Blackford County Biography Ref. Page

FRANCIS MARION WYCKOFF. The attractive homestead of Francis M. Wyckoff is in section eleven of Jefferson township. Mr. Wyckoff came in young manhood to Grant county, possessed the qualities and training which make the successful farmer, and by concentrating his efforts along one line through a succession of years has accumulated more than the average prosperity, and at the same time has won a high place of esteem in his neighborhood.

Concerning his family, it should be said that his grandfather Nicholas Wyckoff was of German parentage, and was probably born in Kentucky, in which state he was married. All the children by his first marriage were born in Kentucky, including Henry, Abraham, Margaret, Susan, and William. Somewhat later the family moved to Indiana, and located west of the west fork of White River in Union township of Bartholomew county. There Nicholas Wyckoff bought two hundred acres of partly improved land, and before his death had the satisfaction of owning a fine property. He was past sixty when he died, and after the death of his first wife he married a Mrs. Tucker, who by that marriage had three daughters and by her union to Michael Tucker had one daughter.

Henry Wyckoff, father of Francis M., was born in Kentucky in 1823, and died in Bartholomew county, Indiana, in 1868. His vocation was that of farming, his politics was Democratic, and he was a member and supported the church. In Johnson county, Indiana, he married Margaret Boucher, who was born in Indiana about 1832 and was of a pioneer family in Johnson county. Her death occurred in April, 1883. Her parents were natives of Germany. The children of Henry Wyckoff and wife were John W., who is unmarried and lives in Michigan; Susan, who died unmarried; Thomas H., who was born in Union township, Bartholomew county, where he is now a successful farmer, and has six sons and one daughter; James N., who died in young manhood; Francis M.; Sarah, wife of Simon Stucker, who lives in Louisville, Kentucky; George, who died young; Martha, wife of Fred Mitler, of Louisville, Kentucky, and they have one son; and Edward, a farmer in Monroe township of Grant county, and the father of four children.

Francis Marion Wyckoff was born in Union township, Bartholomew county, Indiana, April 12, 1850, was educated there, grew up on a farm, had a practical training in its management, and on coming to Grant county bought some land in Fairmount township. That township was his home for fourteen years, and on leaving there he bought ninety-two acres in section eleven of Jefferson township. His place is considered one of the very best tracts of country real estate in that vicinity, and he has managed it in a manner worthy of its real value. His permanent improvements include a big red barn, a comfortable eight-room white house, his crops are fed to his stock on the place, and he is a man who believes in keeping only the better grades of live stock, runs a little dairy, and makes a good deal of butter, which is one of the sources of his annual revenue.

Mr. Wyckoff was married in Grant county to Mary B. Monroe, who was born in this county forty-five years ago, being reared and educated in her native vicinity. Her parents were Jesse and Catherine (Hineline) Monroe. Her father, who died in Jefferson township in middle life, was a son of Joseph Monroe, a pioneer settler who entered land from the government and gave many years of his life to its improvement. Part of the land he entered is now occupied in the farm of Francis M. Wyckoff. Mrs. Jesse Monroe is still living, being past seventy years of age, and her home is with her daughter Ada Marine at the old Monroe farm in Jefferson township. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Wyckoff are. Arthur J., who is employed at Marion, and by his marriage to Marie Draper, has one son, Richard H.; Bertha J. was educated in the high school and Fairmount Academy and lives at home; and Gertrude May was also educated in the high school and is the wife of Roscoe Sanborn of Upland.

"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

FRANK H. KIRKWOOD. The year 1832 is the first date at which the Kirkwood family became identified with Grant county. For fully eighty years, covering practically the entire period of the history of civilization in this section of the state, the name has been identified with the pioneer and modern activities in farming, business and public and social and religious affairs in this county and in Delaware county, as well as in other adjacent counties of Indiana. The immediate family of Frank H. Kirkwood was introduced to Grant county a short time before the Civil war and Mr. Frank H. Kirkwood has spent practically all his life in the county, and for many years has been one of the prosperous farmer citizens of Fairmount township, his home being on section 27 of that township. The family record is one of such importance in different sections of the state, that it is appropriate that extended mention be made of its earlier generations. The following paragraphs are the substance of a family sketch prepared by Mr. L. A. Kirkwood of Muncie, for Frank H. Kirkwood, and written under the date of September 20, 1909. This sketch covers the different generations quite fully, up to that in which Mr. Frank H. Kirkwood belongs.

The name Kirkwood is Scotch and signifies a "church in the woods," or a "wooden church." The late Samuel J. Kirkwood, who was governor of Iowa during the Civil war, and later secretary of the interior in the cabinet of President Garfield, once wrote in reply to some inquiries from Mr. L. A. Kirkwood, that his ancestors were natives of the north of Ireland, and were commonly called "Scotch-Irish or Presbyterian Irish, Presbyterianism being as natural to them as water to a duck." Daniel Kirkwood, for many years professor of mathematics in the Indiana State University at Bloomington, and an astronomer of note in both Europe and America, was a cousin to the Iowa statesman. He, too, was of Scotch-Irish origin with the usual pronounced Presbyterian religious faith so peculiar to the earlier generations of the family. In a letter written by him in 1871, he expressed the belief that his ancestors and those of the Indiana family were of the same family in the north of Ireland.

The earliest known ancestors of the Kirkwood branch as related to the well known McCormick family, of Eastern Indiana, were from Knocknarney, County Down, Ireland, namely: James Reed Kirkwood and his wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Stewart. James Reed Kirkwood was born May 10, 1763, and Margaret Stewart on March 15, 1765. The exact date of their marriage is not known, but probably occurred about the year 1784, their first child being born October 11, 1785. In their old bible, printed in Belfast, Ireland, in 1764, on a blank page, plainly written and in a fine state of preservation, is found this inscription, penned there more than one hundred years ago:

"James Kirkwood is my name
And Ireland is my nation.
Knocknarney my dwelling place,
And Heaven my habitation."
"His hand wrote
May sixth,
1785."

James Reed Kirkwood and wife reared a family of several children of record as follows: Martha Kirkwood, born October 11, 1785, in Ireland; Mary Kirkwood, born June 9, 1786, on the Atlantic ocean; Annie Kirkwood, born July 26, 1791; William Nesbit Kirkwood, born January 19, 1794; Thomas Kirkwood, born November 18, 1796; James Stewart, born September 23, 1801; Margaret Kirkwood, born October 4, 1803�all the last five having Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, as their birthplace. There is nothing of record to show when these parents first left the shores of Ireland or of their landing on American soil, save that it was in the summer of the year 1778. It would seem that they located in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, where they continued to reside until some time subsequent to October, 1803. Of the children just mentioned, Martha married William Starkey; Mary married John Gilland; Annie married James Gilland; William Nesbit married Matilda Randall; Thomas married Jane McCormick and James Stewart married Catherine McCormick.

James Reed Kirkwood passed away May 10, 1836, his wife having preceded him September 25, 1835. At the time of their death they made their home with their youngest son, James S. Kirkwood in Posey township, Fayette county, Indiana. Their earthly remains are in a neglected pioneer graveyard about one-fourth of a mile north of Bentonville, Fayette county. It has long since been utterly abandoned as a burial place and is part of an open field used for farming. There are now no signs whatever of a cemetery there, save the two base-stones, from which the marble slabs have been broken off and removed to the fence which encloses the field. These were the only graves with stone markers in this early pioneer burial place, and not a sign of other graves therein is visible.

The Kirkwood relationship with the McCormick family began with the marriage of Thomas Kirkwood and Jane McCormick, which event took place March 4, 1824, at the old McCormick homestead near Connersville, Fayette county. They settled on land in Posey township in that county, living the life of the settlers of that early time in Indiana. They remained in Fayette county, until 1832, when they moved to Grant county, and located on a farm, near where the town of Matthews now stands. In about the year 1860 they removed to a farm near Eaton, in Union township of Delaware county, on the west bank of the Mississinewa River, remaining there the rest of their days. They had fourteen children, the first five born in Fayette county and the other nine in Grant county, their names with date of birth being as follows: William Nesbit, December 9, 1824; Joseph Stewart, October 12, 1826; James Lewis, January 17, 1828; John Reed, July 20, 1829; Elizabeth Margaret, March 18, 1831; Samuel Drennan, October 2, 1832; Amos Washington, May 15, 1838; David McCormick, May 20, 1840; a son stillborn, October 10, 1841; Robert Lewis, May 25, 1843; Mary Jane, March 4, 1846; and Martha Ann, November 24, 1849. Thomas Kirkwood, father of these children, died October 2, 1851, aged fifty-four years, ten months and fourteen days. His widow, Jane Kirkwood, survived him forty-five years, passing away April 30, 1896, aged ninety-three years, eleven months and four days. Their remains rest in Mount Zion cemetery, Union township, Delaware county.

The further relationship of the Kirkwoods and the McCormicks took place June 24, 1825, when James Stewart Kirkwood, a brother to Thomas, was united in marriage with Catherine McCormick, a sister to Jane. This event, like the other, was celebrated at the old McCormick homestead near Connersville, in Fayette county. They also settled on land in Posey township, adjoining that of Thomas Kirkwood and John Gilland. They also had born to them a family of fourteen children, of record as follows: John Drennen, born October 9, 1826; James Reed, October 24, 1828; William Morrison, June 24, 1830; Thomas Boston, August 18, 1832; Mary Jane, July 21, 1834; David McCormick, November 12, 1836; Joseph Lewis, December 22, 1838; Jefferson Stewart, May 23, 1841; Elizabeth Ann, March 3, 1843; Margaret, May 10, 1845; Levingston Alexander, February 11, 1847; Savannah Caroline, December 25, 1849; Amanda Samira, March 1, 1851; Almira Frances Helen, January 30, 1854.

James Stewart Kirkwood, father of the last mentioned children, continued on the same farm until the time of his death, October 9, 1860, aged fifty-nine years and sixteen days. His widow, Catherine (McCormick) Kirkwood, survived him forty years, passing away July 11, 1900, aged ninety-one years, six months and twenty-five days. In 1874, Catherine Kirkwood moved from Fayette county to Muncie, Indiana, where she spent the remaining twenty-six years of her life. Their remains rest in the cemetery one-half mile south of Bentonville in Fayette county. Of the fourteen children above named, the following had passed away at the time of Mr. L. A. Kirkwood wrote in September, 1909: Mary Jane, wife of Lexemuel Beeson, June 8, 1853; Almira Frances Helen Kirkwood, August 26, 1860; James Reed Kirkwood, November 16, 1903; and John Drennan Kirkwood, May 6, 1905.

Coming to the immediate family of Frank H. Kirkwood, some additional facts may be stated concerning his father, John Drennan Kirkwood, mentioned in the family last named, and who died in 1905 near Matthews, in Grant county. Reared in Fayette county, he became a skilled workman as a carpenter and builder, a trade he followed for a number of years. In 1859, he settled in Grant county, where he bought some land near Matthews. He had married a widow with two daughters, and on the removal to Grant county he bought eighty acres for each of these daughters. Then by his active management and ability he secured two hundred and forty acres for himself in Jefferson township. Thus practically all his attention after he came to Grant county was given to agriculture, and in his time he was known as one of the most successful men in Jefferson township. In politics, like the majority of the Kirkwoods, he was a Democrat. Though he and his wife held to no church, he was in every sense a Christian. John D. Kirkwood was married in Fayette county to Mrs. Ruth Burgess whose maiden name was Crawford. She was born in Fayette county in 1824, and died in Jefferson township of Grant county, December 16, 1902. By her first marriage to Israel Burgess there were two daughters, Margaret and Sarah (Sallie). Margaret is the widow of William Millspaugh, of Delaware county, Indiana, and has a family; Sarah married Leander Millspaugh, a farmer in Jefferson township, and they have a family of children. To the marriage of John Drennen Kirkwood and Mrs. Burgess were born two children: Brooks, born in 1868, and died September 23, 1906, married Bell Corn, who now lives at Muncie and has a son Marcus.

Mr. Frank H. Kirkwood, the older of the two sons of John Drennen Kirkwood, was born July 2, 1858, in Fayette county, Indiana, and since 1859 his home has been in Grant county. His early education was unusually good for the time, and all his active career has been devoted to farming. His is one of the fine rural estates in Jefferson township, comprising one hundred and twenty-five acres of first-class land, with about one hundred acres in cultivation, and in a high state of improvement. He is the owner also of another tract, consisting of eighty acres. That is in section thirty-six of Fairmount township. His home is on section thirty-seven, and the improvements about the place indicate his progressive character as a leading Grant county farmer. A well furnished and attractive residence, nicely painted white and of one and a half story, is the prominent feature, while a large basement barn, forty by one hundred feet, is another valuable improvement. Mr. Kirkwood believes in the rotation of crops, and has had much success in growing the staple cereals, corn, wheat, oats and clover. In order to preserve the fertility of his soil and keep all his grain crops at home, he raises hogs, and cattle, and feeds practically all his grain on his own land.

Mr. Kirkwood was first married in Grant county to Mollie Richards, a daughter of L. G. Richards. She was born and reared in Jefferson township, and at her death left a daughter Florence. Florence is the wife of Lewis Johnson of Matthews, in Grant county, and their children are Arthur B., Twila, and Ruby E. The second wife of Mr. Kirkwood was Nettie M. Jones, who died while giving birth to twins, who did not survive their mother. The present Mrs. Kirkwood was before her marriage, Lydia D. Oliver, a daughter of Edward and Elizabeth (Lugar) Oliver. Mrs. Kirkwood was born in Mills township, where she was reared and educated. Her father Edward Oliver, still lives on the old homestead at the age of seventy-two. He was born in Ohio. His wife Elizabeth, died in Mill township January 24, 1904, and was a native of Mills township, where she spent all her life, her parents having been among the pioneers in Grant county. Mr. Oliver is a Democrat, and he and his wife had no church affiliations.

Mr. Frank H. Kirkwood and his present wife are the parents of four children: Walter E., born July 22, 1891, educated in Fowlerton and now manager of one of his father's farms, married Vedah P. Thom, and they have one son, Hubert Drennen, aged two years; Chester J., born January 12, 1895, educated in the Fowlerton public schools and the Fairmount high school and lives at home; Orin B., born April 6, 1897, is attending school; Russell A., born July 28, 1899, is also in school.

Mr. and Mrs. Kirkwood are members of the United Brethren church of Fowlerton, and in politics he is a Democrat.

WILLIAM PAUL STOVER. On section twenty-five of Jefferson township is the Stover homestead, a farm under the management of that family for upwards of forty years, the present proprietor being William Paul Stover, a young and progressive agriculturist, who succeeded his father in the management of the estate, and has the reputation in the neighborhood of being a "live wire" and in every way a most progressive citizen. He has a beautiful home, farm buildings much above the average of even Grant county and has a large acreage of regular farm crops and raises a number of high grade cattle and hogs and other live stock.

His grandfather, William David Stover, was born in Virginia, and of Virginia parentage, though of German ancestry. He married a Miss Bushyoung, born in Virginia, and of the same lineage as her husband. Before they came west, all of their five children were born. They are as follows: John and Catherine, both of whom married and had children, and both now deceased; Mary, who died in the spring of 1912, and left children; Samuel G.; David, the youngest of the family, who is now a farmer in Blackford county, and has a family of five daughters.

Samuel G. Stover, father of W. P. Stover, was born in Roanoke county, Virginia, on Christmas Day of 1843. When he was seventeen years old his parents came to Indiana, and in 1861 settled in Henry county. Both his parents died in Henry county, his father when past eighty years of age and his mother some twenty years before. They were substantial farming people, and devout members of the United Brethren church. Samuel G. Stover after he became of age took up his independent career in Delaware county, where he met and married Miss M. Emma Shirey, who was born in this state. After four or five years on a Delaware county farm, they came in 1876 to Grant county and bought one hundred and sixty acres in section twenty-five of Jefferson township. Later their enterprise and careful management enabled them to increase their acreage by the purchase of eighty acres more and there Samuel Stover labored and lived out the useful years of his existence until his death on March 1, 1912. He had his farm well improved, and in every direction on the old homestead can still be seen the evidence of his thrift and diligence. His wife died on the same farm, July 28, 1909. She was born in Virginia in 1845, and when twelve years of age accompanied her parents to Delaware county. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel G. Stover were active in the Methodist Episcopal church, and he was a Republican in polities. Their children were: Cora, who died at the age of six months; one that died in infancy: Marion, who also died in infancy; Florence, wife of William J. Williams, a farmer in Blackford county, and they had two children, Samuel M. and Robert Paul; Pearl, who died February 3, 1910, at the age of twenty-four, was unmarried and a graduate of the University of Indiana at Bloomington; William Paul Stover, the youngest of the children, was born on the home farm in Jefferson township, February 9, 1890. Though only a few years past his majority he has already made a record of accomplishment such as many older men would envy. With the class of 1908 he graduated from the Upland high school, and has since been attending strictly to business as a farmer. Since coming into possession of the estate be has erected one of the finest barns in Jefferson township, a large and commodious structure of modern style as to sanitation and convenience, and built on ground dimensions of seventy by thirty-six feet, with a cow barn sixteen by fifty feet. A comfortable old farm residence was erected by his father twenty-seven years ago, and still affords the comforts of a good home.

Mr. Stover was married in Grant county in 1912 to Miss Nettie Roberds, who was born in Blackford county, May 1, 1886, and was educated in the public schools. Her parents were Joseph A. and Anna Eliza (Wilson) Roberds. Anna Eliza Wilson was a daughter of Moses Wilson. The Roberds family live on a farm in Licking township of Blackford county, and are prosperous and well to do people. Mr. and Mrs. Stover have no children, and are popular among the younger members of Jefferson township in social circles. They attend the Pleasant Grove Methodist church.

ALVIN DICKERSON. No other merchant or business man now operating in Upland was in business there when Alvin Dickerson started, and his is not only the oldest established merchant, but foremost in everything that concerns the advancement and prosperity of that flourishing little community. With good natural endowments, he has had a thorough training, and his success in business is based upon the foundation of accomplishment and experience.

Alvin Dickerson was born in Delaware county, Indiana, on a farm, January 17, 1865, and belongs to one of the old families of eastern Indiana. His grandfather, Richard Dickerson, came from Ohio to Indiana in the year 1836 and entered land direct from the government in Washington township of Delaware county. In order to pay his fees and take out his patent, he had to go to the Fort Wayne land office. On the land thus acquired he lived and labored until be had made an excellent home, his estate comprising eighty acres, and he was one of the interesting early settlers of that community. When not following his regular vocation as a farmer, during the early years he did a great deal of teaming for Cincinnati merchants, hauling merchandise from the Ohio city to different points in eastern Indiana. That was of course years before the first railroad was built into this section, and the Overland trail from Cincinnati northwest was the most frequented highway of transportation and nearly every merchant got his goods by that route, and the farmers sent their produce to market largely the same way. Richard Dickerson died before the Civil war and was fifty-six years of age at the time. During his residence in Ohio he married a Miss Hart and she died in Delaware county about the same time as her husband and about the same age. They became the parents of three sons and six daughters. The only one now living is R. Huston, living in Fowlerton, Grant county. Another son was Joshua. John Dickerson, father of the Upland merchant, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, June 26, 1831, and died August 28, 1913, when past eighty-two years of age. His death occurred at Upland. On the old homestead in Delaware county he spent his youth and when ready to make his first independent venture bought forty acres of wild land in the same vicinity. That continued to be his home until the fall of 1865, when he moved over into Grant county, and bought one hundred acres in section six of Jefferson township. After many years of prosperous farming activity, he moved in 1900 to Upland, which village remained his home until his death. His widow still lives in the village. Her maiden name was Mary Hollis, and she was born in Jefferson township in 1838, a daughter of William Hollis, who came from his native Ohio to Grant county and entered land in Jefferson township, getting his patent with the signature of Martin Van Buren, then president of the United States. There he lived amid the changing scenes which marked the progress of the country from pioneer stage into the modern times, and died on the land which his labors had converted into a productive farm, at the age of seventy-eight years. He was three times married, and Mrs. John Dickerson was the child of his first wife. John Dickerson voted the Democratic ticket, and he and his wife had no church affiliations. Of their five children, four were daughters, and three of them are married and living in Grant county with families of their own. One daughter, Luna, is very successful as a teacher, and has for several years filled a responsible position in the government educational system in the Philippine Islands.

Alvin Dickerson grew up in Grant county, attended the district schools of his neighborhood, and later was sent to the State Normal where he studied and qualified himself for the work of teaching which was his regular occupation for eight years. His first school he taught at the age of nineteen. In January, 1892, Mr. Dickerson came to Upland and contributed his resources of capital and enterprise to the little community then existing there. From the start on a modest scale he has been increasingly successful and his large general store is now located in the center of the village on Main Street and supplies everything needed by the people of this locality. Mr. Dickerson also owns a comfortable home in the village and a farm of thirty-two acres in Jefferson township.

Mr. Dickerson is a Prohibition voter in political affairs. He was married in his home township to Miss Jennie Walker, who was born and reared and educated in Jefferson township, a daughter of William C. and Sarah Walker, concerning whom further information will be found elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Dickerson was for several years preceding her marriage a successful and popular teacher in Grant county. To their marriage have been born two children: Cloyd, now twenty years of age, in his freshman year at Purdue University; Geneva, aged nineteen, graduated in the same class with her brother from the high school in 1912, and now lives at home and is a student of music. Mr. and Mrs. Dickerson have membership in the Presbyterian church.

Deb Murray