Blackford County Biography Ref. Page

WILLIAM H. LINDSEY. Born in Grant county, Mr. Lindsey learned a good mechanical trade, spent many years in building and contracting, and later invested the proceeds of a well spent career in farm lands, being now one of the largest landholders in his part of the county. He lives retired at Fairmount, but has not yet felt the necessity of relaxation on account of age, and enjoys the vigor of life to its full. His family has been represented in Grant county nearly seventy years, and the name has always been associated with substantial worth and integrity.

The family of Lindseys were originally from the north of Ireland and of what is known as Scotch-Irish stock. Between one hundred and twenty-five and one hundred and fifty years ago they crossed the Atlantic and located in Guilford county, North Carolina. There the first generations lived and died and were as a rule farmers and mechanics. The history of those early generations is largely lost to record and it is only known definitely that the grandparents of William H. Lindsey lived and died in North Carolina.

Daniel T. Lindsey, father of William H., was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, February 6, 1815, being one in a family of three children and the only one who came north. His early years were spent on the old Guilford county farm, and when he was about eighteen he bound himself out for his board to serve three years in learning the cabinet maker's trade. After three years of apprenticeship he continued to work for some time for his old employer as a journeyman. At the age of thirty when still unmarried, he left North Carolina, and moved to Indiana, settling in Delaware county. There he met and married Nancy E., a daughter of Hiram and Martha (Leach) Lee. Both her parents were born in Virginia, were married there and then moved to Franklin county, Indiana, where their daughter Nancy was born May 14, 1827. When she was nine years of age, the family in 1836 moved to Delaware county, and there her parents took up anew the burdens of pioneer existence and the responsibility of making a new home in the wilderness. Her father hewed a farm out of the woods, and there he and his wife died, the latter when in middle life, while her father was twice married, after the death of his first companion. He died in the fall of 1876, when about fourscore years of age. There were two sons and one daughter by the second wife, and one son by the last marriage. Daniel T. Lindsey was a skilled workman, and followed his trade as a cabinet maker for a few years after his marriage. He then took up carpentry and building, and still later did some farming. After his marriage he lived in Henry county, Indiana, until 1846, in which year he settled in Fairmount township, and ten or eleven years later moved to Franklin township, this county, where his death occurred January 27, 1899. His widow survived him and died at the home of her daughter Mrs. George Berry in Marion, May 3, 1910. She belonged to the old-school Baptist faith which the father also believed, and this denomination had been the church of their parents before them. Daniel T. Lindsey was a Democrat in politics. Daniel T. Lindsey and wife had twelve children. There were five sons and seven daughters, and of these nine grew to maturity, and all were married. Four sons and four daughters are now living.

William H. Lindsey was born in Fairmount township, November 26, 1852. In 1857, when he was five years old the family moved to Franklin township, and it was there that he spent his boyhood days and was reared and educated. The school he attended was the old Baptist school house, two miles west of Roseburg. Later he turned his attention to the practical things of life, learned carpenter work under his father and made that trade the basis of a successful business career. February, 1872, he moved to the city of Fairmount, where his skill as a builder and reliability as a contractor brought him a large patronage. He built a great many homes in Fairmount, and dwelling houses and barns throughout the country in that vicinity. In 1887 he abandoned his trade, and in the spring of the following year established at Fairmount a saw and planeing mill and lumber yard. This was a prosperous business establishment, and was continued by him until 1901 when he sold out. He then bought six hundred and twelve and a half acres of land in Liberty township. His possessions in that township comprise some of the finest farm lands in the county and all of it is in an excellent state of cultivation and improvement. He has six sets of farm buildings on the land, and all the tenants are well provided for and are a prosperous and substantial little colony of farmers. Mr. Lindsey himself lived on the farm three years, but then returned to his city home. He owns a beautiful residence at 304 E. Washington Street in Fairmount. As a farmer he has made an exceptional success in the raising of corn, wheat, oats, hay and clover, and has made a practice of feeding nearly all his crops on his own land. In Jefferson township of Grant county, on March 8, 1877, was solemnized the marriage of William H. Lindsey to Miss Sarah D. Couch. Mrs. Lindsey was born in Grant county on the old Jefferson township homestead of her parents September 16, 1855. Her home has been in this county all her life, she was reared and educated here, and her family name has long been honorably identified with this section of the state. Her parents were Samuel and Nancy (Furnish) Couch, natives respectively of Indiana and Ohio. They were married in Jefferson township, Grant county, and began their married life in this county. Her father died at the age of sixty-two and her mother passed away on Christmas Day of 1901 at the age of seventy. The Couches were of the old-school Baptist Faith. They were the parents of seven children, all of whom married, and all had children except one, who died soon after marriage.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey are noted as follows: 1. Vella was born November 28, 1877, and is the wife of J. Otto Fink, assistant superintendent of the Premier Auto Company of Indianapolis; their three children are William, and Vella, both in the city high school, and Mary E., aged fourteen. 2. Evva, born March 15, 1881, was educated in the Fairmount high school, and is now the wife of Charles H. Hubbard, a glass manufacturer at San Springs, Oklahoma. Their children are Margaret E., aged ten, and Catherine, aged six. 3. Burr died at the age of three years. 4. Guy died when aged ten months and eleven days. 5. John C. born November 16, 1895, is now a member of the Fairmount High School Class of 1915. The church attendance of the family is at the Congregational, and Mr. Lindsey is a Democratic voter. Fraternally he has taken both the lodge and chapter degrees in Masonry at Fairmount, and is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Hackelman.

"BLACKFORD AND GRANT COUNTIES INDIANA, A CHRONICLE OF THEIR PEOPLE PAST AND PRESENT WITH FAMILY LINEAGE AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS"; Complied Under the Editorial Supervision of BENJAMIN G. SHINN; vol. II ; THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY; CHICAGO AND NEW YORK; 1914
Submitted by:Peggy Karol and Karen Overholt

EARL MORRIS. An honorable record of lives worthily lived, of duties and obligations well performed is that of the Morris family, in whose younger generation is Earl Morris, present town clerk and treasurer of Fairmount. Few Grant county families go back further in American residence and, like so many other substantial people of this section, the early stock was Carolina Quakers, the religion of simplicity being still a marked family trait.

The Morris family, of English stock, came to America during the early colonial days, perhaps two hundred years ago, locating in North Carolina, and being represented in that old commonwealth for a number of generations. Adequate data is not at hand concerning the first generation, and the first of the family concerning whom there is definite information was Thomas, who was born in North Carolina, was a Quaker, and farmer, and spent all his days in his native state. He married Sarah Musgrove, also of a Quaker family, and she probably died in Randolph county. They had a large family of ten children, four sons and six daughters.

Aaron Morris, son of Thomas, was the second in the family and was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, January 4, 1791. He died in May, 1832, in Indiana. He married Nancy Thomas, who was born October 27, 1800, in North Carolina, and died March 2, 1832, in Wayne county, Indiana. They both sleep their last sleep side by side in the cemetery at Fountain City. They were among the early founders of the Quaker church in Indiana, were upright, god-fearing, and thrifty people. They were probably married in North Carolina, and it appears that they became residents of Indiana, about 1818, locating at Fountain City, in Wayne county. In the family of Aaron Morris and wife were five children, mentioned as follows: William was born in 1820, married Margaret Jones, and they left one son and two daughters; John T., was the grandfather of Mr. Earl Morris, and is mentioned at greater length in succeeding paragraphs; Anna, died in Indiana; Jesse married and at his death in Michigan left a family, and the last twenty-seven years of his life were spent in blindness. Hannah was the second wife of Axium Elliott, and died at the age of twenty-four, being buried in Marion, I.O.O.F. cemetery, without children.

John T. Morris, grandfather, was born at Fountain City, Indiana, November 22, 1821. When he was eleven years old he lost his father by death, and as both parents died about the same time, in Grant county, Indiana, the children were scattered and taken into other homes to be reared. John T. went to Grant county, and was bound out to Silas Overman, working on the farm as a bound boy until he had completed his apprenticeship at the age of twenty-one. He was then ready to make his independent start, having received for all his labor only his board and clothes, and had a few dollars and a pair of overalls as extra clothing when he started for himself. In 1846, four years after he had reached his majority, on the twenty-second day of April, he married Rebecca Jay, who was born in Indiana, September 15, 1827, and who died August 29, 1868, in Illinois. John T. Morris lived on a farm in Grant county for a number of years, later moved to Illinois, spent some time in the far northwest in the state of Oregon, afterwards returned to Indiana, and lived first in Rush county, and later at Newcastle, in Henry county. He still lives at Newcastle, being a remarkably well preserved old gentleman, who has never been obliged to wear glasses and has his hearing almost perfect. He is an intelligent reader, and has had many exceptional experiences during a long career. He has been a life long member of the Quaker church, and in politics, has always voted for the prohibition cause. During his residence in Rush county he married for his second wife Sarah Ann Gray, a native of Indiana, who died in Rush county. For his third wife he married Mrs. Emily (Macey) Winslow, who is now past seventy-six years of age. There were no children by the second and third marriages, but those by his first wife were as follows: 1. Thomas Elwood, born February 9, 1847, now a resident of Florida, and by his first marriage had children Charles L., Clarkson D., and William. By his second wife he was the father of Myrtle, Earl, Esther, and Harry, all of whom are living but Esther. 2. Aaron, born January 25, 1849, died June 29, 1876, unmarried. 3. Mary Eliza, born March 17, 1852, died in August, 1887, in Grant county, Indiana. She married Christopher Porter, also deceased. They had four children: Anna, John, Lizzie, and Florence, all of whom are deceased. 4. Bryon, born July 7, 1854, married Elizabeth Hodson, and is a dentist at Portland, Oregon. Their children are Willis, Chester, and Lewis. 5. Luther Lee was born June 6, 1857, and is mentioned in the following paragraphs. 6. Eli O. was born December 21, 1859, and died unmarried July 1, 1876. 7. Emma was born March 28, 1863, and died January 17, 1878. 8. Daniel, born August 20, 1865, with present whereabouts unknown, but if he is living he is probably in Alaska.

Luther Lee Morris was born in Indiana, spent most of his early life and received his education in Rush county, and grew up on a farm. After he became of age he located in Grant county, took up farming and was also engaged in tile manufacturing. For some time he resided at Marion and was a street paving contractor for a time. Later he engaged in the wood and fuel business, and about twenty years ago moved to Fairmount. He is now street commissioner of the town of Fairmount. In politics he is a Republican.

Mr. Luther L. Morris was twice married. His first wife was Ida Leapley, who was born in Marion, and who died in that city in the prime of life. Her one son was William Clifford Morris, now a farmer west of Marion, who married Fay Stephens, and has one son, Harry Luther. The second marriage of Mr. Morris was to Melissa Draper of Marion. She was born in Grant county on a farm, May 5, 1863, and is still living. Her parents died when she was a child, and she was reared in the home of her grandfather, Hezikiah Nelson. She is the mother of Earl, and Otto. The latter was born January 14, 1890, a graduate of the Fairmount public schools and the Fairmount Academy, now living at home with his father and mother, and working as a lineman for the local phone company.

Earl Morris was born at Marion, June 13, 1886. His early life until he was eight years old was passed within the limits of his native city and he began attending school there. Later he was a student in the Fairmount public schools, and graduated from the graded school in 1901, and from the Fairmount Academy in the German Scientific and Teacher's Courses. His first regular position in life was as a teacher, and he followed that vocation actively for seven years. Three years of this time were spent as principal at Fowlerton public school. In the fall of 1911 Mr. Morris was elected town clerk and treasurer of Fairmount, and has given a most proficient administration of the duties of his office. He is a Republican in politics, and fraternally is affiliated with Fairmount Lodge No. 635, F. & A. M., having formerly been a secretary of the lodge. Mr. Morris is unmarried.

JOSIAH WINSLOW. The Winslow family was the second to settle in Fairmount township. The time of their coming was two years before the organization of Grant county, and as substantial North Carolina Quakers they did much to influence other families of their faith and general social character to locate in the same community. Josiah Winslow is of the third generation in Grant county, is a native of Fairmount township, and his active career was spent here and in other nearby sections of the state. His home is now in Fairmount, where he lives retired after a long and successful career in farming. Mrs. Winslow, his wife, is a highly intellectual woman, and for many years has been identified with official affairs in the Quaker church, being one of the preachers in that society.

The Winslow family for a number of generations during the eighteenth century lived in Randolph county, North Carolina. It was established in America when three brothers landed from the Mayflower at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. One of these brothers has become a familiar name to all American school children as a governor of the old Massachusetts Bay Colony. One of them went south and became the founder of the family in the Carolinas, and from that line has come the present Grant county family.

Joseph Winslow, grandfather of Josiah, was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, at Back Creek Meeting, about 1780. He was there married to Penina Charles, likewise of an old family and both were strict adherents of the Fox Quaker sect.. After all their children had been born, they loaded their possessions into wagons and with teams of horses crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains, journeyed day after day through the valleys and prairies and woods to the west of the Alleghanies, and finally arrived in Fairmount township of Grant county, though the country had no such names at that time, in November, 1829. As previously stated, Joseph Winslow was the second settler in Fairmount township. His selection of land was made on the west side of a little stream which he called Back Creek, thus transplanting a familiar name from North Carolina. His first shelter was a log house, constructed entirely without iron or steel, wooden pins and the familiar "tongue and groove" being employed to join the timbers. Later a two-story double hewed log house was erected and there the family lived for a good many years. During 1855-56 Henry Winslow, our subject's father, built a commodious frame house, and there Joseph Winslow lived until his death in September of either 1858 or 1859. He was at that time about eighty years of age. The homestead of one hundred and sixty acres which he had entered from the government, and which his labors had transformed from a wilderness to an improved farm has since passed out of his immediate family, and is now occupied by Ancil Winslow, of the same name, but no immediate relative. Joseph Winslow played a very conspicuous part in early affairs in his community. His leadership was effective in the organization of the first Quaker meeting, the first church services were held in his house. This society has now for many years been the Back Creek Friends church, in which both he and his wife were prominent. The wife of Joseph Winslow died many years before him. They had a family of five sons and three daughters, namely: John, Seth, Matthew, Daniel, Sarah (Sallie), Caroline, and Nancy, all of whom were married and had children, and lived and died in Indiana with the exception of Matthew whose death occurred in Iowa; Henry, who was the youngest and the father of Josiah.

Henry Winslow was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, September 11, 1813, and died in Rush county, Indiana, in October, 1887. He was sixteen years old when the family moved to Grant county, and the old homestead in Fairmount township was the scene of his industrious activities until after the death of his mother, and he eventually became owner of the place. He lived there until 1864, and then took his family to Rush county where he bought eighty-four acres of land. That was his home until his death, and his characteristics as a hard worker, a good neighbor and as one who advocated and practiced the laurel virtues, he always had an influential part in his community. In politics he was a Republican until 1884, and then joined the Prohibition party and voted for Governor St. John of Kansas, who was nominee for president on that party ticket. Before the Civil war he had been an equally strong prohibitionist, and his home was one of the stations on the underground railway. He himself had many times kept a black slave concealed about his premises during the day and had carried him by night to the next station. Henry Winslow was married in Rush county to Miss Anna Binford, who was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, in 1816. She died at the old Winslow homestead in Fairmount township in September, 1863. Both she and her husband were active in the Quaker church. Her father, Micajah Binford, of an old North Carolina Quaker family of English stock, died in Rush county, Indiana, when nearly ninety years of age. The ten children of Henry Winslow and wife are named as follows: Micajah B. died in Kansas in the prime of his life, leaving a family of children. Levi is married and a farmer in Mill township, of Grant county. Emily married Barker Hockett and died in Colorado, leaving a number of children. Jonathan is now a retired farmer in Leavenworth county, Kansas, and has a family. Ruth died the wife of Enos Hill, by whom she left three living children. Sarah died at the age of two years. Joseph and Josiah were twins, and the former is now a preacher in the Friends church in the state of Oklahoma, and has a family of children by his wife, who died twelve years ago. William died unmarried at the age of twenty-one. Mary was the wife of James Baker, and at her death left five children.

Josiah Winslow was born on his father's homestead in Fairmount township, September 13, 1849. All the children were born there. The first fifteen years of his life were spent in Grant county, and his education was received chiefly in the old Back Creek schoolhouse. Later he attended school for a time at the Walnut Ridge school in Rush county. His career as a farmer has been spent in Rush county, in Blackford county, and in Grant county. In May, 1913, Mr. Winslow retired from active pursuits, and moved to Fairmount.

His first wife, whom he married in Marion county was Mary Pruitt, who was born there in 1848. Her death occurred in 1876 in Grant county, and her one son, William, died at the age of four years. For his second wife Mr. Winslow married Mrs. Abigail Bogue, whose maiden name was Cox, a daughter of William Cox, of the Cox family so prominent in Grant county, and whose histories are given elsewhere in these pages. Mrs. Winslow was born in Fairmount township, October 24, 1847. By her marriage to Jonathan Bogue she had seven children, named as follows: William S. Bogue, who lives in Marion, where he is a carpenter, married Anna Thackery, and has two children, Edwin and Milton and by a former marriage also has two children, Banna Mandola and Howard; Eli G. Bogue died in early childhood; Lentine is the wife of Willard Allen of Marion, and has one son, Harry; John L. lives in Los Angeles, California, and by his marriage to Zelma Haves has two children, Neva and Olive; Laurel C., whose home is in Marion, married Hazel Hackelman, and has a daughter Margaret E., and by a former marriage has a son, Laurel R.; Otto G. is a miner at Kirby, Oregon, and spent six years as a soldier, serving in the Spanish American War; Milton C. is unmarried and is chef in a hotel at Berkeley, California; J. Burl operates a diamond drill in mines at Monmouth, California.

Mr. and Mrs. Winslow and family are members of the Friends Church, and as already stated, Mrs. Winslow has been for twenty-five years a minister of the faith. Mr. Winslow was for many years an elder, and in politics is a Prohibitionist.

JOHN W. JONES. About twenty-five years ago, after he had grown up in Grant county, had practical experience on a farm, and had by hard work and close economy acquired a little capital, John W. Jones bought the land contained in his present homestead on section thirty of Jefferson township. Mr. Jones is a prosperous man, owns a fine farm, runs it in a business-like way, and is not only a man of independence and standing on his own ground, but anywhere in that community is looked upon with the esteem and respect which are paid to a citizen whose relations with the community have always been on a high plane of honor and integrity.

This branch of the Jones family was established in Grant county many years ago by Joshua Jones, father of John W. Joshua was the son of Lewis Jones, who lived and died in Ohio, was twice married, and had children by both wives. Joshua Jones, a son of the first marriage of his father, was born in Greene county, Ohio, March 31, 1819, and grew up on his father's farm. When he was about twenty years of age he crossed the state line into Indiana, and being a young man without capital, he found employment among the farmers of Blackford county, for several years. Then moving into Jefferson township of Grant county, he bought some land, most of it located in the wilderness which still covered most of this region, and by hard work cleared up and made a good farm. That was his home for nearly sixty years, and at his death in August, 1909, he was able to look back upon a lifetime of industry and gratifying accomplishment. He was a Democrat, and member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Joshua Jones was married in Jefferson township of Grant county to Miss Malinda Owings, who was born in Ohio, and came with her father Nicholas Owings, when a young child to Jefferson township. Mrs. Joshua Jones died on the old homestead in Jefferson township in 1905. She was an active member of the Methodist church. There were nine children, eight of whom she reared to adult age, and one Mary J., died in young womanhood. Those living are as follows: Harriet, the widow of Michael Houck, lives at Upland, without children; Lydia, is the widow of Edwin Fergus and lives in California, having a son and a daughter; Lewis M. is a farmer of Jefferson township, and has four daughters, all of whom are married; the next in line is John W. George W. is a retired farmer, and conducts a feed store in Upland, is married and has two daughters, both of whom in turn are married; Thomas Lee lives in Jonesboro, and his son is married; Sarah E. is the wife of William Ginn, a farmer in Jefferson township, and they are the parents of two sons.

John W. Jones was born in Jefferson township, June 20, 1851. As a boy he saw much that was characteristic of pioneer life, and within his youthful recollection the first railroad was built through Grant county. His education was acquired in the district schools, and his home was with his parents, until he reached manhood. As already stated, in 1887 he bought eighty acres of his present place, and he now owns one hundred acres of highly improved and well cultivated land. With the passing of years he has introduced many improvements, and in 1903 erected the comfortable and substantial nine-room house, a fine white building, which makes an attractive picture in the midst of the shade and fruit trees surrounding it. Mr. Jones is a stock grower, and keeps livestock of only the better grades on his place.

In Fairmount township in 1877, occurred the marriage of John W. Jones and Terissa Moorman. Mrs. Jones was born in Fairmount township, August 18, 1849, and her home has been in Grant county with the exception of three years, spent in Illinois and Iowa. Her parents are Lewis and Sarah Moorman, and the Moorman family long prominent in Grant county, received full treatment in the sketch of Levi Moorman, found elsewhere on these pages. Mr. and Mrs. Jones are the parents of seven children, named as follows: Gertrude, wife of Esley Thorn, farmers of Delaware county, and with one daughter, Geneva; Oscar, who lives at home and helps run the farm, and is unmarried; L. J. a farmer in Missouri, who married Mina Johnson, and has a daughter, Mildred P.; Eva, wife of Clyde R. Partridge, of Fowlerton, and has one child, Myron; Minnie and Frank, who died in early childhood; and Lora B., who was well educated in the township schools, and now lives at home.

Deb Murray