L. G. RICHARDS. Grant county owes much to the Richards family, both for the part it has performed in the development of the country from the wilderness in the early days, and also for its substantial citizenship and high moral influence. Mr. L. G. Richards is now nearly eighty years of age, has spent all his life in Grant county, is a product of its pioneer schools when all instruction was given in log buildings, and the curriculum was the three R's, and by a long and active career of industry an exceptional business management accumulated an estate which at one time was among the largest in Jefferson township.

His grandfather Henry Richards was born either in Virginia or Pennsylvania, was an early settler in the state of Ohio, where it is thought he was married. The maiden name of his wife was Miss Thom, and during their residence on a farm in Guernsey county, Ohio, their children were born. These children were: John, Daniel, Susan, Catherine, Jacob. Daniel, who married a Miss Lewis, was a farmer, went out to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in an early day and lived and died there, leaving a family. Susan married John Ogan, a farmer, and a number of years later moved out to Kansas, where they died. Catherine married Nathan Lewis, a schoolteacher, and soon after their marriage went to Kansas, where their lives were spent on a farm. Jacob married Susan Gillispie, and they lived and died in Jefferson township of Grant county, where they were substantial farmers, and of their children some are still living.

Rev. John Richards, father of L. G. Richards, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1810 or 1811. His youth was spent on a farm in his native county, and while there he married Effie Roberts, who was born in Ohio about 1812-13. After the birth of their first son and child, Henry, in 1829 or 1830, they came with other members of the family, including their parents, to Grant county, locating in the wildwoods. All of the family obtained land in Grant county, grandfather Henry Richards getting two hundred acres, and subsequently accumulating eighty acres more, so that his place consisted of two hundred and eighty acres before his death. All of the sons likewise, took up land, and became pioneer workers in the early decades of Grant county's history. Grandfather Henry Richards died when about seventy years of age, some years before the Civil war, possibly as early as 1850. His wife died even earlier.

Rev. John Richards, after moving to Grant county, acquired and improved two hundred acres of land. While a prosperous farmer, and thus providing for the material needs of himself and children, he was likewise one of the prominent leaders in the Primitive Baptist church. Largely owing to his efforts, the church known as Harmony was organized at Matthews. Later he was ordained a preacher, and with saddlebags and on horseback pursued his work as an itinerant preacher throughout this section of the state traveling hundreds of miles and preaching in as many as a hundred different localities. He was one of the pioneer preachers who visited from cabin to cabin with self-denying earnestness, traveling through the unbroken forests, exhorting, counseling, reproving, as occasion demanded, and was always welcome at the pioneer homes. His was the work of a real evangelist, and many classes were organized by him in this part of the state. His home in Grant county was the headquarters for a large following of primitive Baptists, and as many as one hundred and twenty-five people were entertained at the Richards place during the three days' meetings, some of them coming from long distance, even as much as a hundred miles, riding on horseback, and in every other pioneer conveyance. His work as a preacher went on, and was concluded only with his death. He was a Democrat in politics, and exerted much influence in civic affairs, as well as in religion. He had lived to see what he believed was the end of the Civil war, passing away early in the sixties. His wife died in middle life about 1850, and she was likewise an active worker in the Primitive Baptist church.

Rev. John Richards and wife had six sons and one daughter, mentioned as follows: 1. Rev. Henry, Jr., a minister of the Primitive Baptist church, organized a class in Coffey county, and later did work in Oklahoma, where he now lives at the venerable age of eighty-four and still active in the faith. 2. L. G. Richards is the second of the family. 3. Abraham, now living retired in Jefferson township, is seventy-seven years of age, and has a family of his own. 4. Daniel who died in 1907, was twice married, and left two sons and one daughter, who are still living. 5. Jacob, who is an active superintendence of his farm in Jefferson township, was twice married, and four children by his first wife are living. 6. Martha, who lives with her third husband in Albany, Indiana, has children by her first husband. 7. Isaac, occupies a farm in Jefferson township and has two daughters and one son, the latter being Lewis, who is an editor in the state of California.

Mr. L. G. Richards was born in Jefferson township of Grant county, October 25, 1834. The school which he attended as a boy was in many ways typical of the pioneer temples of learning. It was built of logs, had a puncheon floor, the benches were slabs supported by rough logs, and on either side of the structure a log was left out to admit the light, which came dimly into the room through greased paper. The writing desk was a broad board supported on a slant by pins driven into the walls. During his early work at home he earned enough to buy eighty acres of land, and from that start, by industry, economy, and energy, increased his holdings until at one time he was the possessor of nine hundred and sixty acres of as fine land as was to be found in Jefferson township. A part of the land lay in Delaware county. To each of his children he has given a farm, and every one is improved with excellent buildings. Mr. Richards still keeps one hundred and ninety-two acres for the home place, on section three, and the improvements there are of the best class. For many years he has grown on a large scale, the regular crops of this country, and has fed his product to hogs and cattle. Though his prosperity has been exceptional, his dealings with his community have always been of the strictest honor and probity, and as an illustration of this fact it can be said that he was never engaged in a law suit, either as defendant or plaintiff, in all his life.

In accumulation of his generous property he had a noble and thrifty woman as his helpmate. Her maiden name was Mary E. Craw, and she was born in Jefferson township, December 11, 1834, dying May 27, 1900. She was the mother of three daughters and two sons, namely: 1. Rev. J. William, a farmer, has charge as pastor of the Harmony Primitive Baptist church. He married Emma Harris, and has two sons and one daughter. 2. David L., who now owns and occupies a part of the home farm, is an official in the Matthews State Bank; he married Lois Fergus, and they have two daughters. 3. Lucina, by her marriage to Harmon Newburger, has one son. She is now the wife of Rufus Nottingham, and they have one son and three daughters. 4. Mollie died after her marriage to Frank H, Kirkwood, whose sketch will be found elsewhere in these pages. 5. Rena is the wife of John W. Himelick, a well known Grant county citizen, sketched elsewhere.

Mr. Richards for his second wife married Miss Maria Martin, who was born in Fayette county, Indiana, February 18, 1837, and from fourteen years of age was reared in Delaware county, living in the city of Muncie. Her parents were Russell P. and Ida A. Martin. Her father was born in Ohio, October 26, 1807, and died March 22, 1874, while her mother was born in New Jersey, September 27, 1807, and died November 7, 1902. Both died in Delaware county. They were married in Ohio, and soon afterwards came to Fayette county, Indiana, where her father followed his regular trade of brick mason and plasterer. They belonged to the Primitive Baptist church. Mrs. Richards had three brothers, Wilson, Robert, and Maxwell, who were soldiers in the Civil war. Two of them were in a southern prison for some months and one died after leaving the battlefield stricken with illness. Mr. Richards is a leader in the Primitive Baptist church, and has long been one of its officials. In politics his is a Democrat.

"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


REV. NIXON RUSH. The career of a just and good man, and the memory of his kindly, noble deeds are in themselves his true biography. In the life of such an individual the observer of human character may find both precept and example. He may discover in such a life sermons that speak more eloquently and leave a more lasting impression upon the heart than any human words. Where eminent abilities and unblemished integrity, combined with unimpeachable virtue, derivable from the daily practice of religion and piety, contribute to adorn the character of an individual, then it is most proper to be prominently set forth as an example to those who would make themselves useful too the rest of mankind. And the writer cherishes the belief that he will perform this acceptable service in giving a brief sketch of the life and work of Rev. Nixon Rush, who for half a century was known to the citizens of Grant county as an industrious and successful agriculturist, but who, perhaps, was better known as a minister of the Quaker faith, as a member of which he had preached throughout this part of Indiana for more than forty years.

Rev. Nixon Rush traces his ancestry back to Colonial days, when it was founded in this country by five brothers, early settlers of Culpeper county, Virginia, possibly about the year 1700. The early generations resided in that locality, but the first definite data to be found is that concerning one Crawford, or Clifford Rush, who was born in that county about the year 1720. He became a large plantation owner, had many slaves and spent his entire life in his native county as did his wife Mary. Among their children was Benjamin Rush, who was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, April 19, 1752. When about of age he migrated to Randolph county, North Carolina, and there was married in 1772 to Dorcas Vickery, a native of the Old North State. They settled down as farming people and accumulated and improved a large property not far from Shepherd Mountain. There they spent their entire lives, dying in the faith of the Methodist church. It may have been that they were slave-holders. Their six sons and two daughters all grew to maturity and lived to advanced years, being large, portly people, and all had homes of their own and reared large families. The sons were all slave-holders, and were prominent in politics, being for the greater part Democrats. The members of this family were noted for their hospitality.

Of the above eight children, Azel Rush, the grandfather of Rev. Nixon Rush, was born August 8, 1780. He grew up a farmer, and in 1806 was married to Elizabeth Beckerdite, who was born in Randolph county, and she died in 1818. Mr. Rush had joined the Friends Church, the only one of the family to do so, and later his wife joined and died in that faith. He was married a second time to a Miss White, a member of an old North Carolina family of Randolph county, and she died there prior to 1836. She left a family, but her descendants all reside in North Carolina. Mr. Rush was married a third time, and in 1846 came to Fairmount township, Grant county, settling on undeveloped land, which they reclaimed from the wilderness, and here spent the balance of their lives. They were life-long Quakers and remained true to the teachings of that faith. They had a family of four children: Dorinda, Iredell, Dorcas and Nancy, all of whom married and all spent their entire lives in Grant county.

Iredell Rush, the Father of Rev. Nixon Rush, was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, January 14, 1807, as a birthright Quaker. He was married in his native county to Miss Elizabeth Bogue, who was born February 7, 1808, in southern North Carolina, the ceremony taking place in 1829, and being performed after the custom of the Friends Church. They commenced in a humble manner, securing a horse and small wagon, and two weeks after their marriage bid a final farewell to a large circle of friends and with Mr. Rush's uncle, Mathew Winslow, set out north far over the mountains for the wilderness of Indiana. After a long and tedious journey, replete with dangers and exciting experiences, the young couple reached the Friends' settlements at Derby, Wayne county, there renting a small farm. The neighbors, in the kindly, encouraging way that always marked those of this faith in the early days and has continued to do so to the present time, assisted them to start house, giving them various articles needed, as well as chickens and young pigs to raise for their own. Amid these pioneer surroundings they remained until March, 1831, when they pushed on to Grant county, Mr. Rush securing forty acres of government land, the deed for which was signed by Andrew Jackson. Here he cut a space 18 x 20 feet, in the timber, on which was erected a rude log cabin, with the under boards held down by poles, the floor made of slabs, and the stick and mortar chimney serving all purposes. It was some time before the quilt used as a door covering was replaced by a woolen door, and not one nail was used in the entire construction of this pioneer home.

This was the first home to be erected between this section and Alexandria, Madison county. Game was plentiful and kept the family table well supplied; the tasks that otherwise would have seemed onerous and distasteful were made light in the atmosphere of love that hovered over the little home; and although riches and plenty came in later years, Mr. and Mrs. Rush both stated in later life that the first ten years of their married life had been their happiest ones. Industry and economy, thrift and perseverance soon placed Mr. and Mrs. Rush in a position where they could afford a finer home. When this had been erected, they added to their acres, their stock and their equipment, and finally became known as one of the substantial families in this section of the county, owning 160 acres here and 400 acres in another part of the State. Mr. Rush passed away May 29, 1853, while his wife survived him until April 12, 1877, both dying in the faith of the Quaker church in which they had been lifelong members and active workers. They assisted in building the first Quaker church in this community although meetings had been held as early as 1831 in private houses, chiefly that of Joseph Winslow. In politics Mr. Rush was first a Whig and then became an Abolitionist and a Republican. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Rush were as follows: John born at Derby, Wayne county, Indiana, November 30, 1830, died, aged fifty years; married Katura Jay, also deceased; Calvin, born in Grant county, Indiana, July 14, 1833, died about 1904, married and had no issue; Nixon, of this review, born March 30, 1886; Millicent, born November 10, 1838, widow of Elwood Haisley, now living with her children in Fairmount; Jane, Ana and Thomas, all of whom died when about twenty years of age; and Mary, born January 24, 1850, who married Robert Carter, now lives at Riverside, Kansas, and has a family.

Nixon Rush grew up on his father's farm, located just outside of Fairmount, in Grant county, and here he has spent the greater part of his life, being the proprietor of most of the property at this time and living in the house which had almost been completed by his father at the time of the latter's death. He has an excellent property of 140 acres, in addition to which he donated six acres of land to Fairmount Academy, located near his home, a Friends' preparatory school. Mr. Rush is an excellent business man and skilled farmer, and has made a decided success of his ventures. Although now practically retired from the activities of life, he still superintends the workings of his land, and carries on his business matters in the same able manner that characterized his younger days.

On October 31, 1861, Mr. Rush was married to Miss Louisa Winslow, who was born in Grant county, Indiana, August 5, 1843, daughter of Daniel and Rebecca (Hiatt) Winslow. A devoted wife and mother, a consistent Friend and an upright Christian woman, the death of Mrs. Rush, which occurred May 24, 1911, was sincerely mourned by a wide circle of friends, who loved her for her many excellent qualities of mind and heart. To Mr. and Mrs. Rush there were born the following children: Axelina, Elmira, Emma, Walter, Olive, Calvin C., Charles E. Of these Axelina died at the age of two years. Elmira was born July 4, 1865, received excellent educational advantages, and now is city editor of the Fairmount News, of which her husband, Edgar Baldwin, is editor in chief. They have one son, Mark, who is a government soil analyzer, at the present time located in Iowa. Emma was born July 7, 1867, was well educated and became the wife of William A. Beasley. They alternate between living on a farm and in the town of Fairmount, and are the parents of five children—Myron, Zola, Frank, John and Elizabeth. Walter was born April 4, 1870, was educated in the public schools, and is now the manager of his father's farming property. He married Elizabeth Johnson of Grant county, Indiana, and they have three children—Loretta O., at home, a graduate of the Academy; Isadore Alice, a graduate of the public schools and now attending the academy, and Dorothy E., the baby, two years old. Olive Rush was born June 10, 1873, and attended the Fairmount Academy and Earlham College. She early displayed marked artistic talent, and began her studies along this line in Earlham College. Subsequently she spent two years in the Corcoran Art School, connected with the Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D. C., and was there awarded second prize in a class of eighty pupils for advancement. Later she became a student in the Art Student's League, New York City, and became a well-known illustrator for writers and authors, making first-page frontispieces for such well-known magazines as Scribner's, Harper's, and Ladies' Home Journal and the Woman's Home Companion. She conceived and provided studies for large cathedrals and churches, principally windows, and painted portraits of well-known people throughout the country. With Ethel Brown, she occupied the studio at Wilmington, Delaware, left vacant by the death of Howard Pyle, at the request of his widow. Her pictures, largely subject pieces, have been exhibited at various art expositions and salons, and at this time she is successfully continuing her work near Paris, France. Calvin C. Rush, M. D., was born February 16, 1876, and after graduating from the local academy and Earlham College, received a scholarship at Haverford. Subsequently he graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and now has a large practice at Portage, Pennsylvania. He married Annette Johnson, and they have one daughter, Sylvia Louise; and one son, Norman J. Charles E. Rush was born March 23, 1885, was well educated in the academy and at Earlham College, and then took special courses in library work. He is now the overseer of three libraries at St. Joseph, Missouri. He married Lionne Adait, daughter of Rev. Spencer M. Adait, and they have one child, Alison A., who is now two years of age.

Reared in the faith of the Friends church, Rev. Rush was ordained as a minister in 1869, and for forty years has traveled all over this part of Indiana, where no minister of the faith is more widely known nor more greatly beloved. For years he was assisted by his wife. He has preached at hundreds of funerals and has married scores of people during his ministry. His influence, always for good, has been constantly felt in his community, where he has not alone become a conspicuous figure in the church, but has also gained a large place in the good will and love of all classes and denominations.

"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


JOSEPH H. PEACOCK. For generations, wherever their home has been in America, whether in the Atlantic colonies and states or in Indiana, the Peacock family have been noted not only for its faithful adherence to the orthodox Quaker religion, but also for its exemplification of the virtues and thrifty qualities of that class of people. Grant county citizenship has been honored with the presence of the Peacock family here for a great many years, and one of its most highly esteemed representatives was the late Joseph H. Peacock, of Fairmount township, who died May 14, 1874.

Of English ancestry, it is said that three brothers named Peacock came to America during the colonial era, and located among the Penn colonies in Pennsylvania. Later some of their descendants moved in from South Carolina, where their home remained for several generations. The first definite members of the family to be mentioned in this article were Asa and his wife Dinah Peacock. Asa Peacock was born in the Rice belt of North Carolina, was married there and afterwards took his family into North Carolina. Then during the decade of the twenties they all came to Indiana. That journey was made in true pioneer style, with wagons and teams across the long distances of forest trail, and they finally located in the Friends settlement at Newport, now Fountain City in Wayne county. From there about 1830 they came to Grant county, and entered land from the government in Liberty township. Thus the Peacock name has been identified with Grant county for eighty-three years. Asa Peacock and his first wife lived and died in Grant county. He was past eighty years of age at the time of his death. His second wife was Dorcas Jones, nee Hale, who survived him and died in Kansas. By her first husband she had a family of children. Asa Peacock and his first wife were the parents of William, Levi, Joseph, Betsey D., Martha (Patsey) and John. Of these, Levi died recently at Richmond, Indiana, when past ninety years of age. Joseph is still living, over eighty years of age, in Kokomo. Patsey and another sister died young. Betsey D. married and reared a family of children. John died an old man and left a family of children. William Peacock, son of Asa and Dinah, was born in South Carolina, November 4, 1812. He was still a boy when his parents moved to Indiana, and he reached maturity in Grant county. In 1833 he went to Newgarden in Wayne county, where he married Phoebe Haisley, who was born October 9, 1812. They began their married life in Grant county, and in a wild and unbroken section of Liberty township. They secured land direct from the government and improved a good farm. There William Peacock died April 30, 1867, and his remains were laid to rest at Oak Ridge. His death resulted from a fever contracted during attendance of his wife, who was stricken with the disease while on a visit to Newgarden, Wayne county, and died March 23, 1867. To William Peacock and wife were born eleven children, mentioned as follows: 1. Hannah, born in 1839, and died in 1913 in the state of Oregon, married Mordecai M. Davison, also deceased; they had no children. 2. Josiah, born in 1836 and died in 1867, married Cynthia Rich, and they had five children. 3. Anna, born in 1839 and died in 1882, became wife of Barkley Moon and had four children. 4. Susanna, born in 1840, and died in 1912, married Lewis Hackett, and they died without issue. 5. Levina, born in 1842, and died in 1874, married Aaron Comer, and had no children. 6. Joseph H. born February 9, 1844, and died May 5, 1874, is the special subject of this article. 7. Jane, born in 1846 and died in 1868, married Thomas H. Johnson, and left one son. 8. Sarah died in infancy. 9. Diana, born in 1852, lives in Fairmount, the widow of Nathan Hinshaw. 10. William, Jr., born in 1854, lives in Sedgewick, Kansas, married Lyda Smith, and has children. 11. Levi died in infancy.

The late Joseph H. Peacock was reared on his father's farm in Liberty township, was educated, and trained in the local schools and in a good home where prevailed a high atmosphere of moral and religious influence. In 1869 in the Quaker church at Fairmount and with the orthodox Quaker ceremony, he married Elizabeth Radley, who was born near Chelmsford, Essex county, England, June 6, 1843.

Mrs. Peacock, who now lives in Fairmount with her children, comes of an old English ancestry. Her parents were Samuel and Mary (Bull) Radley, her mother a sister of John Bull, one of the early settlers of Fairmount. Samuel Radley and wife were married in Essex county, England, and all their four children, Mary A., Elizabeth, Alice C., and Samuel John were born in England. The father was by trade a plasterer and brick layer. While the children were all small the family embarked on a sailing vessel named Westminster, under Captain Doan, and voyaged from London to New York, six weeks being spent on the ocean. Locating near Fairmount, Mr. Radley followed his trade and engaged in farming, his later years being mostly spent on the farm. He died March 11, 1877, when about sixty years of age. His wife passed away October 24, 1888. She was born in the Presbyterian faith, but early in life joined the Friends church, and her father was a birthright Friend. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Peacock were the parents of two sons. William A., born November 23, 1871, and died at the age of eighteen; John Henry, born June 14, 1873, received a substantial education in the Fairmount Public Schools, and graduated from the biblical department of the Fairmount Academy and also the Wesleyan Theological Seminary. He with his mother now owns 230 acres of land and is a thrifty and successful farmer and devoted Christian. He married Ruth Reese, of Michigan. Their two sons are Myron R., at home, and graduate of the Fairmount Academy; and Joseph Edward, who died when nearly seven years of age. The farm upon which Joseph H. Peacock died lies northwest of Fairmount, near where Fairmount Academy now stands, lies just northwest of Fairmount. There are over two hundred acres of land, and a comfortable farm house, the well painted barns, the improvements in fences and cultivation, all indicate the thrift and prosperity which have been associated with the Peacock name throughout its connection with Grant county.

"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


Deb Murray