Blackford County Biography Ref. Page

WARREN CLARK NOTTINGHAM. Now living retired in Jefferson township at Matthews, on that portion known as "Old Town". Warren Clark Nottingham has had a long and active career as a farmer and businessman, and is now serving as deputy township assessor.

His grandfather, James Nottingham, was born in Pennsylvania, and came of good old English stock, the family originally having had its seat in Nottingham, England, for many years, hence the name which followed the family. James Nottingham was born in 1811, and when six years of age his parents moved out to Indiana, and located about 1817 near the present city of Muncie. James Nottingham grew up at Muncie, learned the trade of cabinet maker, and was four times married. His first wife, a Miss Russell, was born near Muncie, Indiana, about 1812, and died there in the prime of life. She left two sons and two daughters, namely: Chaplain; Julia Ann who became the wife of Simon Clark; one daughter that died, aged twelve years; and a son, Owen P. James Nottingham for his second wife married a Miss Carmine, who was born in Delaware county, Indiana, and who died when still a young woman, leaving one son, Thomas, who died after being twice married, leaving children by both wives. James Nottingham, for his third wife, married a Delaware county girl, whose name is now forgotten, and she survived only a brief while. The fourth wife was Mrs. Sarah Litler, whose maiden name was Heal. She was the mother of five children by a former marriage. James Nottingham, after marrying his fourth wife, moved to Grant county on a farm in Jefferson township. Some years later he sold the sixty acres he owned in Jefferson township and bought a house and land near Jonesboro, in Mill township. There James Nottingham died in 1885, being survived by his wife a few years.

She was about seventy years of age when her death occurred. There were four children by the last union, namely: David, who is married and has children and lives in Lansing, Michigan; Caroline, who died after her marriage to Frank Stout, and left one child; Catherine, the widow of a Mr. O'Connor, living at Indianapolis; and Leota, wife of Earl Jay of Gas City, Indiana, and the mother of three daughters. James Nottingham and all his wives were active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics he was a Republican. During the war he served an office similar to that of provost marshal, and his duties were principally connected with the making of the draft and the serving of notice upon those whose services were thus selected for the army.

Owen P. Nottingham, father of Warren C., was born October 18, 1833, at the present city of Muncie, which at that time was known as Munsytown. His early life was spent in Muncie, and when a boy he began learning the trade of harness maker. One of his youthful duties was the driving of a hack for passengers, and mail between Muncie and Marion, a distance of thirty miles. The roads were unspeakably bad, and the low, swampy places were what were known as Corduroy, being built of logs laid close together at right angles to the main line of travel. He carried with him a convenient rail to pry his wagon out of the worst holes. A four-horse team pulled his wagon over this distance. This travel between Muncie and Marion made him familiar with Grant county, and in early manhood he settled in Jefferson township. In that township on February 24, 1853, he married Mary A. Couch, who was born in Darke county, Ohio, June 1, 1832. When she was four years of age, her grandfather, Sam'l Todd, brought the family to Jefferson township, locating there in 1836. Other children in the family were Samuel and Tamma. Jefferson township was practically an unbroken wilderness when the Todd family located there, and Sam'l Todd entered some land on Todd creek, where he had his homestead and where the family grew up and remained until starting out in life for themselves.

After his marriage Owen P. Nottingham bought a farm in Jefferson township and continued to cultivate his land there until the beginning of the Civil war. He then enlisted in the Fifty-fourth Indiana Regiment, and in the rank of corporal and later as a teamster, contributed his faithful services to the preservation of the Union. During the Siege of Vicksburg he drove an ammunition wagon and had many narrow escapes, losing three mules while driving his wagon under the storm of shot and shell in some of the most exposed parts of the fields. His service as a soldier continued for about eighteen months, and at his honorable discharge he returned home and sold the forty acres which he had previously bought and then acquired what is known as the Todd farm of one hundred acres. In 1865 Mr. Nottingham sold out his land in Grant county and moved out to Southeastern Kansas, to the Cherokee Nation of Indians, in what is now Cherokee county, Kansas. There he took up a claim of land and occupied it until 1868. In that year his residence was moved to Cedar county, Missouri, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres. In 1870 he sold out his western property and returned to Grant county, and finally located on a farm in Jefferson township where he lived until his death on January 26, 1906. His wife died in Grant county, October 10, 1883. He was married a second time, Miss Hannah Simons becoming his second wife. She still lives on the old homestead, and though without children of her own, adopted a son, Fred, when he was a small child, and Fred is now married and lives with his foster mother.

Owen P. Nottingham by his first wife had ten children, mentioned as follows: Warren C.; Rufus C., who has been twice married, and has children by each wife, and lives on a farm in Jefferson township; James S., who lives on a farm in Spencer county, Indiana, is married and has one daughter; Ellen T., wife of Aaron Kearstead, a farmer of Jonesboro, and the father of eight children; Athalia O., who lives in Clark county, and has a family by her late husband, Fremont Heal, who was killed by a gas explosion; the sixth child died in infancy; Benjamin S., a farmer in Blackford county, Indiana, and has a large family of children; Sarah E., and Julia, twins, the former a widow living in Jonesboro, with four children, and the latter the wife of Daniel Farr, living in Illinois; and William D., a veterinary surgeon at Fowlerton, Indiana, and the father of a fami1y.

Warren Clark Nottingham was born in Jefferson township of Grant county, November 20, 1853. His early life was spent in his native township, and while assisting in the labor of the home farm he also had the advantages of the home school. After reaching his majority he bought some land, and at the present time, as a result of years of successful management and industry, owns one hundred and twenty acres of farm land in Jefferson township. It is improved with a comfortable dwelling house, and a large red barn and other outbuilding testify to the thrift and management of the estate. For the past seven years Mr. Nottingham has given little active attention to the management of his farm and has lived in Matthews, or that part of it called Old Town.

In 1874 Mr. Nottingham was first married in Jefferson township to Miss Ruth A. Brown, who was born in Jefferson township, August 7, 1851. Her death occurred at the old home farm, June 2, 1905. Her children were: Mary Bernice, wife of John Gadbury, a farmer in Licking township of Blackford county, Indiana, and their five children are Ernest, Ross, Floyd, Gale and Harold. Harmon J., the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Nottingham, is on his father's farm and by his marriage to Rosiphene Walker, has the following children: Cecil A., Lester E., Ethel M., and Clair. Clella, the third of the family, is the wife of Wilson Leach, a farmer in Jefferson township. Their children are: Crystal, Ruth, deceased; Bernice and Mozelle. Besides these three children still living, Preston died in infancy, and Guy and Glenn, twins, also died in childhood.

On March 6, 1907, Mr. Nottingham married for his second wife, Mrs. Sidney C. Brown, widow of John L. Brown. Her maiden name was Haines, and she was born in Monroe township of Grant county, November 13, 1858, and was reared and educated in this county, and first married in Jefferson township. Her husband, Mr. Brown, was a resident here for many years and a farmer, his life coming to an end on May 11, 1904. The Brown children were: Emory L., and Virgil H., both well educated and living at home, and three children that died in childhood. Mrs. Nottingham is the daughter of Nathan and Sarah (Imes) Haines. Nathan Haines was born in Ohio, October 25, 1813, and died in Kansas in 1886. Nathan Haines was a son of Ebenezer, who was born in 1799 and died in 1850, and he in turn was a son of Joseph Haines, born either in Virginia or Pennsylvania. A brother of Joseph was Vincent, who was poisoned during the Revolutionary war by drinking water, into which some Hessian soldier had poured poison. Joseph Haines spent his life as a Virginia planter and farmer, having located in that colony in 1770. Ebenezer Haines came west on reaching manhood, and in 1803 settled in Columbiana county, Ohio, living and prospering there until the close of his years. Nathan Haines was three times married and had children by each wife. His last wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Imes, was the mother of Mrs. Nottingham. Nathan Haines spent his last years in Cloud county, Kansas, where he died at the age of seventy-two. His widow afterwards returned to Grant county, Indiana, and died there at the age of sixty-six. They were active members of the Christian church, and four of their seven children are still living. Mr. and Mrs. Nottingham are working members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Nottingham is a vigorous exponent of the Democratic doctrines in politics. He is now serving his fifth year as deputy assessor of Jefferson township.

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

JESSE C. HOLLOWAY. Representing a young generation of a family which has been identified with Grant county for many years, Jesse C. Holloway has for fourteen years successfully raised the product of the soil on his farm in section twenty-six of Fairmount township. His farm contains one hundred and twenty acres, nearly all of which is in a high state of cultivation. Farming with Mr. Holloway is a practical business matter, and his methods are such as to insure the continuous fertility and value of his estate. He never raises more than two successive crops of corn on the same ground. His rotation changes his land from clover to corn, then to oats, then to wheat, and then back to clover. His home has been on this land since 1899, and his improvements in buildings are of the very best.

Mr. Holloway has lived in Grant county all his life, and was born in Monroe township, January 23, 1876. The family history has been told on other pages and will be briefly summarized at this place. Three brothers of the name left England during the colonial days, and one of them located in North Carolina. Of Quaker stock, the family in subsequent generations have always been devoted to that church. First to be mentioned among the descendants of the first settler is Abner Holloway, who married Elizabeth Stanley, and they both lived and died in North Carolina, where they were farmers and upright people. They were the parents of four children. Of these Jesse was born about 1805, and in his home state he married Eleanor Hinshaw, who was born in North Carolina in 1810. After their marriage they settled on a farm, where the wife gained great reputation throughout a large community as a midwife and doctor. Their home was later moved to Ohio. Jesse and Eleanor Holloway were the parents of nine children. Second among these was Abner, who was born December 6, 1830, in Clinton county, Ohio. When he was a child the family moved to Fairmount township in Grant county. Here in the Friends church and with the Quaker ceremony, on May 15, 1854, Abner Holloway married Sarah Rich, who was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, October 7, 1837, and was a child when she came to Grant county. The history of the Rich family is told on other pages of this Grant county history. Abner Holloway and wife began their careers in Monroe township, and in 1882 moved to Fairmount township. Abner died April 1, 1903, and his widow is still living. They were the parents of twelve children, of whom Jesse C. was the eighth.

Mr. Jesse C. Holloway was six years of age when his parents moved to Fairmount township, where he grew up and was educated in the local schools. His early environment was a farm and when he started out in life for himself he settled upon that vocation and has made a success of it.

In the house where he now lives, Mr. Holloway was married in 1898 to Miss Lillie M. Corn, who was born in Jonesboro, July 25, 1878. Her parents are John G. and Rebecca (Ice) Corn, who are still living. They were born in Indiana and were married in Madison county, where they had their home for many years, later moving to Fairmount township in this county. Mr. Corn has combined the vocation of carpenter with farming and also runs a threshing outfit during each harvest season. Mr. and Mrs. Holloway are the parents of five children: R. Gertrude, born July 17, 1899, and now attending school; Dwight C., born September 4, 1901, and in school at Fowlerton; John H., born February 19, 1904, also in school; Hazel E., born May 18, 1908; and S. Pauline, born March 8, 1912. In politics Mr. Holloway is a Prohibitionist and he and his wife worship in the Methodist Protestant Church.

ALPHEUS HAMLIN SHIELDS. The Shields family has lived in Grant county for fifty years. Its members have as a rule been practical farmers, men of energy and thrift, good managers, and agreeable and useful in all their relations with the community. Mr. Alpheus H. Shields has for more than thirty years been succeeding as a farmer in Fairmount township, his home being in section thirty-two on the rural route No. 21 out of Fairmount.

His grandparents were George and Ann Shields, both natives of Virginia, and probably of old families in that old commonwealth. From Virginia after their marriage they moved to Clinton county, Ohio, where they spent the remainder of their days. Grandfather Shields was probably only a few years past middle age when he died, but his wife survived until she was ninety years of age. They were members of the Methodist church. In their family were one son and four daughters, all the latter growing up, marrying and having families of their own.

John M. Shields, the only son was born January 24, 1819, was reared on a farm, and in Clinton county, Ohio, on May 16, 1844, married Martha Connell. She was born in the state of Pennsylvania, April 10, 1818, a daughter of Hiram and Nancy Connell, all of whom came to Clinton county. The Connell family belonged to the Friends Church. The Rev. Mr. Baker of the Methodist faith, married John M. Shields and wife. Both the Shields and the Connell families it should be noted, were of Scotch-Irish stock. All the children, three sons and one daughter, of John M. Shields and wife were born in Clinton county. Later, in 1862, they moved to Indiana, where the father bought two hundred and ninety-two acres in section five of Fairmount township. After improving his land, and gaining a comfortable competence for himself during his declining years, besides providing well for his children, he and his wife about 1872, moved to a farm near Fairmount city, and there both spent their last years. The mother died September 20, 1888. Their church was the Methodist, though later they joined the Friends church and it was in that faith that both passed away. John M. Shields was a Republican in politics. The children of John M. Shields and wife were: Louisa, who married Joseph Pool, a farmer of Fairmount township, and their children are John and Nettie; George, who now lives in Fairmount city, married Ida Persnet, and has three children, Ethel, Charles and Frank. The third is Alpheus H. Shields; William, whose home is now in the state of California, married Lydia Cox, and their children are Trenton, Edward and Everett.

Alpheus Hamlin Shields was born in Clinton county, Ohio, May 28, 1852. Since he was ten years of age his home has been within two miles of Fairmount city. His education was acquired partly in the schools of Ohio, and partly in Fairmount township, and since he reached his majority his energies have been closely devoted to farming. At the present time he is the owner of a place of seventy acres of fine land in section thirty-one, and besides that operates fifty acres in another tract. Farming is a successful business in the case of Mr. Shields, and as a grower of the staple crops, there has seldom been a year when he has not added at least a little to his prosperity. He and his wife reside in a very comfortable home, and there are good barns and improvements all about the place.

His first marriage occurred in Fairmount township on Christmas Day of 1880, when Mattie E. Neal became his wife. She was born in Grant county, February 15, 1863, and died at their home in September, 1893. Her parents were Eli and Sophia (Lamb) Neal, who came to Grant county from Ohio, and were married in this county. They were farmers, members of the Friends Church and Wesleyan Methodist faith respectively, and their home was in Fairmount township until death. To the marriage of Mr. Shields and Miss Neal were born four children: Estella S. is the wife of Otto Harris, a farmer in Delaware county, and they have one daughter, Lillian; Thad J. is unmarried and lives at home; Claude W., died in childhood; Edith J. is the wife of Claude Kitterman, their home being in Blackford county, on a farm, and their one child is Dorothy B.

On August 6, 1894, at Summitville, in Madison county, Mr. Shields married Mrs. Elizabeth Atkinson, whose maiden name was Painter. She was born on the old Painter homestead in Madison county, February 19, 1868, and was reared and educated there. Her parents were Silas P. and Dorcas C. (Heritage) Painter. Her father, born in Henry county, Indiana, is still living on the old homestead in Madison county with his son, and will be seventy-eight years of age on December 4, 1913. Mrs. Shields' mother was born in Preble county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Painter began life in Madison county near Summitville, where by their united industries they acquired a fine home of one hundred and sixty acres, on which all the children were reared. Mrs. Painter died January 3, 1906, at the age of sixty-eight The Painter family were members of the Missionary Baptist church. Silas P. Painter was a son of George W. and Keziah (Perry) Painter, who were among the pioneer settlers of Madison county, where they died. Mrs. Shields by her first marriage to Robert H. Atkinson, who was born in Decatur county, Indiana, and died April 16, 1891, had the following children: Lottie V., who died at the age of three years; J. P. Lester, who married Hazel Lamb, lives in Summitville, and has no children; Bertie M., who lives at the Shields home. Mr. and Mrs. Shields have the following children of their own: Alva, who died in infancy; Ina L., born June 6, 1908; and Silas H., born September 14, 1911. The religious affiliation of Mr. and Mrs. Shields is with the Baptist church, while in politics he is a regular Republican voter.

HARMON BULLER. Randolph county, North Carolina, the source of so many early settlers in Grant county, was the place of origin of the Buller family, the first members of which came to Grant county eighty-five years ago, among the earliest pioneers, and three years before the county was organized. In the third generation of the family is Harmon, for so many years prominent as a farmer and stockman in Fairmount township and the owner of a splendid rural estate just outside the city of Fairmount. His fellow citizens have paid him many tributes for his thrift and excellent judgment in business affairs, and he has been remarkably successful in stock trading and dealing. Mr. Butler is a man of the energetic, nervous temperament, always active in mind and body, and has been a forceful leader in every undertaking whether on his own initiative or in community matters.

His grandfather Buller was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, and spent all his life in that state as a farmer, his death occurring when quite old. The grandfather married Mary, better known as Polly, Leonard, also of North Carolina. After her husband died, with her family of two sons and three daughters she came overland by wagon and team across the long distance intervening between North Carolina and Indiana. This journey was made in 1833, and she located on section twenty-eight in Fairmount township of Grant county. The land was altogether new, in the state of primeval wilderness, though it had been entered a year or two before by other parties. Mrs. Buller after several years of residence in Grant county married Job David of North Carolina. Later they moved to a small farm in Liberty township, where they both died. Mrs. Buller reached a good old age, and in many ways was one of the remarkable pioneer women. She was a Wesleyan Methodist in religion, and brought up her children in that faith. She survived her second husband by several years. Of her five children, all grew up and married and were farming people.

Lindsay Buller, father of Harmon Butter, was a young man when his mother moved to Grant county. He was born in North Carolina in 1815, and on reaching maturity entered forty acres of land on section twenty-five in Liberty township. There he did well as a farmer, and after a long and honorable career died in 1895 at the home of his son B. F. Buller. He was a Wesleyan Methodist and a Republican in politics. Lindsay Buller married Miss Polly Lytle, who was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, in 1814, and was a girl when she came with her father to Grant county, locating in Liberty township. Her father there entered eighty acres of land, and that continued to be the Lytle homestead for many years. Later her father and a second wife moved out to Missouri where they died. Mrs. Polly Buller died in 1863, while her son Harmon was away fighting as a soldier for the Union.

Harmon Buller was born on his father's old farm in Liberty township, February 23, 1844. There he grew up, attended the district schools such as were maintained in the rural communities of that time, and when nineteen years of age enlisted in Company G of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Indiana Infantry as a private. With that regiment he served during 1863 and 1864, nearly a full year. He was in some of the hardest campaigns of the war and saw much fighting and many marches, but went through service without injury, was never confined a day in a hospital, and escaped capture. On his discharge from the army he returned to Grant county, and soon after acquired his first land in Liberty township. He improved his place with good buildings, and lived there until he sold out in the fall of 1875. In that year he moved to Fairmount township, and bought eighty acres of fine land, just outside the corporation limits of the city. By his thrift and enterprise he gradually extended his landed possessions and at the present time owns two hundred acres in one body. This is improved with a commodious brick dwelling house besides excellent barn buildings of all descriptions. The keynote of his success has been energy, combined with a certain talent for managing soil and in handling and dealing in live stock.

In Fairmount City Mr. Boiler married Mary Little, who was born in North Carolina in 1840, and came to Grant county with her parents. She died in Fairmount, in 1904, the mother of three children. The son John E. is now a prosperous young farmer, is the owner of eighty acres of land near Fairmount, and married Salina Arnett. They have one son, Carmen A. Charles L., the second son, is a substantial farmer in Fairmount township, and is regarded as one of the most successful men. His first marriage was to Bertha Plock, who died leaving one child, Harmon, Jr. His present wife is Anna Yarber. Mr. Buller and sons are Republican voters.

AMOS ARTHUR HOLLOWAY. In Grant county, as in many other sections of the middle west, the day of the big farm and the loose farming methods have almost passed. Farming is now both a practical and scientific business, and many of the most successful are pursuing it according to the intensive methods, making one acre grow what the old-fashioned husbandmen produced on two or three acres. One of the prosperous little estates which well illustrates this principle is the farm of Mr. Holloway in Fairmount township on section twenty-seven. His acreage is only forty-two and a half. About ten acres of this is in native timber, and orchards, while the rest is highly cultivated soil. His crops are of a general nature, principally corn, but also oats and other grains. An orchard of three acres in apples, with other fruits produces a considerable share of his annual revenue. Nearly all the grain produced on his farm is fed to his hogs, and. he keeps some other stock. Mr. Holloway is a young and progressive farmer citizen of Grant county, and his early prosperity is an indication of what many years will bring him in the future.

Amos A. Holloway was born on the farm he now owns and occupies on December 10, 1882. With the exception of two years his entire career has been spent in this one locality. His parents were Abner and Sarah (Rich) Holloway, natives of North Carolina, both of whom were almost children when their respective parents moved to Indiana. They married at Fairmount, and established their first home in this county.

For a number of years their residence was in Monroe township, after which they came to Fairmount township, bought and owned a large tract of two hundred and seventy acres. There the father passed away April 2, 1903, when more than seventy years of age. His church was the Friends, and in politics he was a Republican. His widow now lives with her children, and is a Quaker, and over seventy-three years of age. There were five sons and five daughters, eight of whom are living, and all are married and have children, being well settled and self-sustaining.

Mr. Holloway, the youngest of the children, was married in Monroe township, in 1904 to Miss Mary E. Fleming, who was born in Monroe township, May 28, 1885. She is a daughter of George and Susanna (Hollis) Fleming, who are now living in Monroe township, and both natives of Indiana, and married in Grant county. The Fleming family are members of the Methodist church. Mrs. Holloway is the second of three children. Mr. and Mrs. Holloway have been born six children: Willard A., aged eight years; George, who was killed while playing on the railway tracks by a passenger train on October 5, 1908, at the age of two years; Clyde L, aged six years; Ruth D., aged four; Anna L., aged two; and Charles, now a few months old. Mr. Holloway is a Quaker, while his wife adheres to the Methodist church, and his politics is Republican.

Deb Murray