More than a century and a half ago, this family had its seat in New Hampshire. A few years before the Revolutionary War, Edward, the great-grandfather of Isaac Lyman Carter was born in Hollis, New Hampshire, April 22, 1770. He married Esther Powers, of the same place, and they lived and died there, Edward passing away September 18, 1826. There were a number of children in the family, including Isaac P. Carter, who was born in New Hampshire, probably at Hollis, July 3, 1793. The early youth was spent in New Hampshire, but he was probably married in Waldo county, Maine, where it is known that he lived for several years. In an early day, about the year 1825, he emigrated west to Ohio, landing in Muskingum county, Ohio, where he was a pioneer settler in the vicinity of Zanesville. There he followed farming, but in a few years his pioneer spirit led him to move on still farther west and in 1835 he arrived in Grant county, Indiana, locating on raw land in Jefferson township, situated on the banks of the Mississinewa. A log cabin home was the first shelter of the Carter family in Grant county, and Grandfather Isaac made a living partly by farming and partly by hunting and fishing. His labors were steadily directed towards the clearing and improvement of his land, and eventually a good homestead rewarded his efforts. For the construction of the second home replacing the old log cabin, a supply of brick was made, and from clay taken from the farm. That old brick house is still standing, but is no longer occupied as a dwelling. Isaac P. Carter spent his last years in that house, and died January 29, 1869. During his residence in Ohio he married Joanna Gage, and she was born, June 9, 1802, in Waldo county, Maine, and died April 1, 1863. They were active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and possessed the kindly and substantial qualities of the old pioneer. Their family consisted of ten sons, and seven of those grew up and were married, as follows: Ira J., Howard, Joseph, Elijah, John H., Lewis, and Oliver, all of whom were married and are now deceased, and all but Oliver had children. Farming was their vocation, and very few members of the Carter family in the various generations have followed any other vocation.

Ira J. Carter, father of Isaac L., was born in Muskingum county, near Zanesville, Ohio, March 15, 1822, and died near Matthews, in Grant county, March 21, 1899. At the time of the family migration to Grant county, in 1835, he was thirteen years of age, and here his years were spent until manhood, and he acquired an education much better than most of his contemporaries. He possessed talent both in penmanship and in mathematics, and for a number of years taught school. For two years he served as justice of the peace, and many people were married in his office throughout his part of the county, and some of those marriages have endured happily to the present time. For many years he also did the work of a notary, and for twenty-seven years was postmaster of the place locally known as Trask Post Office, an office which was discontinued in 1901 under competition from the- rural free delivery service. While attending to the various duties of these offices, he conducted his farm either directly or supervised its management, and was the owner of eighty acres of fine land. Throughout his career he voted and supported the Democratic party. Ira J. Carter was married in Jefferson township on July 25, 1844, to Eliza Ann Corn. Her birth occurred in Rush county, Indiana, June 5, 1825, and she is still living a venerable woman, though quite active in body and mind, eighty-eight years of age, a lovely old woman whose character has long been an asset in the community. She is a Baptist in religion and has been identified with church and its kindred activities for the greater part of a lifetime. Her age was eleven years when the family moved to Grant county, and her parents were Joseph and Nancy (Said) Corn. Her father was a native of Georgia, moved in early life to Kentucky, where he married a native daughter of that state, and after two children had been born to them in Kentucky, Louisa and Lucinda, the family all moved to Rush county, Indiana. In Rush county Mrs. Carter was born and also other children as follows: Permelia, Martha J., Joseph and John. All these children are now dead, except Mrs. Carter, and all except Louisa were married and had families of their own, some of them very large households, Joseph having twenty-one children by two wives.

The children born to Ira J. Carter and wife were: Permelia J., who died in infancy; Harriet, also deceased in infancy; Gilbert, who did not survive babyhood; J. Newton, a carpenter, who lives in Upland, Grant county, and has a family; Olive, who is the widow of John Kibby, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work; Levi L., who is a farmer in Delaware county, and is married and has one daughter; Mary E., whose first husband was Noah Hardy, and whose second was Elmer Hiatt, and living now in Gary, Indiana, and there were three children by the second marriage. Isaac L.; Salina D., who died when seventeen years of age; Jerusha, who became the wife of John Croush, living in Clark county, Indiana, and they have two sons and three daughters; Anna A., the wife of Wood Helms, a farmer in Fairmount township, and their family consists of three sons and two daughters.

Isaac Lyman Carter was born in the house he still occupies, on October 30, 1860. That old homestead is in section twenty-one of Jefferson township. His home has always been in this locality and from boyhood he has followed farming successfully, and in a practical, progressive manner, which marks him as a true son of the soil. His place of eighty acres is well stocked with graded sheep, hogs, and cattle, and he is one of the extensive feeders in this part of the county. His buildings are good and substantial, and represent prosperous management.

Near the old home, Isaac L. Carter married for his first wife, Miss Mary N. Wilcoxon, who was born in Delaware county in 1848, and who died at her home in Jefferson township, January 21, 1901. She was an active communicant of the Methodist church. Her six children are mentioned as follows: Glenn, whose home is with his father, and who is unmarried, is a graduate of Purdue University, and is now a seed and fertilizer inspector for the state of Indiana; Alivila Blanche, died at the age of fifteen months; R. Emory, who lives on a farm in Fairmount township, married Miss Lula Goodnight, and their children are John and Blanche; John Burl, who is a graduate of the high school in the class of 1909, lives at home with his father on the farm; Asa E. was graduated in the home schools, and is living with his father; Mary A. is a sophomore in the Matthews high school. The present Mrs. Carter was before her marriage Margaret Ann Fitch, who was born in Marion county, Indiana, February 26, 1869, was educated in Wabash county, and is a woman of thorough culture and an excellent housewife and mother. Her parents were John and Sarah (Wiley) Fitch, who were born respectively in Kentucky and Indiana, were married in Marion county of the latter state, and most of their lives were passed in Wabash county. Her father died in Huntington county, in 1907, at the age of sixty-four, while his widow now lives in Andrews, Indiana, and is seventy-one years of age. The Fitch family are members of the Methodist church. Mrs. Carter is the mother of three children: Lewis H., in the public schools; Sarah Ethlyn, aged two years; and Edith M. Mr. and Mrs. Carter belong to Kingsley Chapel Methodist church, and Mr. Carter is a trustee and for a number of years was steward in the church. His political affiliations are with the Democratic party.

"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

J. Clay Ross, who comes of a fine old Kentucky family, was born in Gallatin county, Kentucky, October 17, 1877. He was reared on a farm until he was eighteen years old, and his first work was as a teacher, after graduating in the scientific course in the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio. Through school teaching he paid his way through college and university, and on March 29, 1901, graduated from the Commercial department of the Kentucky State University. After that for a short while he was bookkeeper in the First National Bank at Vevay, Indiana. In his ancestry and family connections were a number of physicians, and this was one of the influences which prompted him to take up medicine as his chosen calling.

Dr. Ross comes of old Virginia stock, which was early transplanted into Kentucky. There is a family tradition that Betsey Ross who made the first American flag belonged to one of the earlier generations. The doctor's grandfather was Milton C. Ross, who was born in Gallatin county, Kentucky, in 1823. He married Nancy Hopkins, who was born in Carroll county, Kentucky, about the same time. Both were of Virginia stock of Scotch-Irish people, and early settlers in Kentucky. The father of Milton C. Ross was rich in lands, holding a grant of ten thousand acres in Kentucky, had a great retinue of slaves who worked his plantations and attended to his household, and was an influential and wealthy citizen.

Grandfather Milton Ross died at the age of seventy-three years, while his wife passed away when seventy-nine years. They were members of the Christian church, and led lives of earnest Christian principle and usefulness. There were thirteen children in the family of Milton Ross and wife. Of these the only ones now living are: Joseph, father of Dr. Ross, and Dr. John J. C. Ross, of Bloomington, Indiana. One son, Thomas, was a soldier in the Union army during the war in the Eighteenth Kentucky Regiment. However, grandfather Ross was a strong Confederate in his sympathies and had held slaves before the war, having inherited them from his father. Joseph Ross, father of Dr. Ross, has been a farmer all his life, and he and his wife now occupy the old Donley homestead near the Ohio river in Gallatin county, Kentucky. He was born January 19, 1855, and all his years have been spent in the vicinity of his birth place. He has been a Democrat and locally prominent. He was married in Gallatin county to Mary Donley, who was born in the same county, May 19, 1855. They grew up in the same neighborhood, attended the same school, and have always lived in companionship and their married life has been a particularly happy one. Joseph Ross is a member of the Christian church, his family religion, but Mrs. Ross is a Catholic, and reared her children in that faith. Her parents were James and Margaret (Breen) Donley, who were born in County Wexford, Ireland, were married there, and some time during the forties embarked upon a sailing vessel which was three months in crossing the ocean to New Orleans, and from there came up the Mississippi River to Kentucky. James Donley and wife died when quite old, he at the age of sixty-nine and she when seventy-four, and of their nine children, eight are still living. Dr. Ross was the oldest of three children. His brother, Charles, who was born November 30, 1880, lives on a farm in his native county, and is married and has two children, Joseph J. and Robert L. The sister Margaret, born July 27, 1895, was educated in the public schools and in the Villa McDonough Academy of Kentucky, and is now at home with her parents.

Dr. Ross was married in Hopkinsville, Christian county, Kentucky, to Miss Mamie Massie. She was born near Houston, Texas, August 10, 1884, grew up there and attended Texas schools and finished her education within six years in Washington, D. C. She is a granddaughter of Dr. J. C. and Elizabeth (Sessums) Massie, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of Tennessee, but they were married in Texas and Grandfather Massie was a prominent physician at Houston for a number of years, but finally retired to his plantation near that city, and died there at the age of sixty years; his widow died June 27, 1913, aged eighty-eight. Joseph Massie, father of Mrs. Ross, was born and reared on his father's plantation in Texas, and married Mary Edmundson, a native of Texas, a woman of many talents and of thorough education and culture, a graduate of Hollin's Institute of Virginia, and also of Vassar College. She was an accomplished musician, both vocally and instrumentally, having graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Music and spent two years in study in Europe. She died in 1890 in the prime of life. Her husband now lives in New Mexico, and is serving as county clerk of Chavis county, with home at Roswell, the county seat. The Massie family are all Episcopalian in religion, and Mrs. Ross' cousin, Davis Sessums, is Episcopal bishop of Louisiana. Dr. Ross and wife have one child, Marion E., born October 10, 1906. Mrs. Ross has membership in the Episcopal church, while he retains his affiliation with the Catholic church.

Dr. Ross is very popular and active in fraternal matters, being a member of the Knights of Columbus Council at Marion; the Elks Lodge No. 195; the Orioles No. 9; the Lodge of Moose No. 253; and the Neptunes, the Mother Lodge of which order is at Marion. Dr. Ross in politics 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

William Duling was one of the following children: Oliver, John, William, Thomas, George, Mary, Barbara Ann, and Elizabeth, both the last named dying in infancy. Oliver, William and Thomas are still living, and Oliver is a bachelor.

William Duling grew up on the old home farm in Fairmount township, and subsequently bought sixty acres of land near the old estate, and started out as an independent farmer. That continued to be his home until 1876, when he left Fairmount township and bought the James Nottingham farm of one hundred and six acres in Jefferson township. That is his home down to the present writing, and he is also the owner of eighty acres nearby in Fairmount township. William Duling and wife have well deserved their prosperity, since they were hard workers from youth up, and by thrift and good management acquired a property aggregating at one time more than six hundred acres. They are members of the Methodist Protestant church. They were the parents of eight children, and they are briefly mentioned as follows: Mary A. is the wife of Oscar Lewis, a farmer in Delaware county, and has two children; John lives in Fairmount township, is married but has no children; Flora is the wife of Calvin Jones, and their children are: Myrtle, Clarence, Walter, Effie and Mary. The fourth in the family is B. Frank Duling. Nettie is the wife of Rev. C. M. Hobbs, an active minister of the Methodist church, and their children are Donald, Sedrick and Malcolm. Elmer is the Delaware county farmer, and by his marriage to Emma Dunn, has one baby son. Effie is the wife of Frank Wright, an undertaker in the city of Washington, D. C. Glenn is a farmer in Fairmount township, and married Juanita Kuntz.

Mr. B. Frank Duling, after growing to manhood entered upon his career as a successful farmer, and his prosperity has been such as to make him one among the leading farmers of Grant county, and give him a distinctive place in affairs. At the present time he is the owner of two farms, each comprising eighty acres, and all the improvements and facilities for modern agriculture and stock raising are to be found there. In the little city of Matthews, Mr. Duling owns a nice home, and also has a stock and grain barn in the town, forty-four by one hundred and thirty-two feet in floor dimensions. His live stock comprises fourteen head of horses, and also hogs and other animals. Since 1909, Mr. Duling has made his home in the town of Matthews, and operates his farms from that point.

Mr. Duling was married in Washington township of Delaware county to Miss Amanda Dunn, who was born and reared and educated in that township. They are the parents of four children, one of whom died in infancy, the others being: Lloyd, aged seventeen; Marjorie, aged thirteen; and Norwood, aged eighteen months. Mr. Duling is a Republican in national affairs, and always interested in good government as applied to his home community.

"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

The fine estate of Mr. Lugar is located on section six of Monroe township, where he is the owner of two hundred and seventy-eight acres of land. All of this is in cultivation, except twenty acres in timber. Near the roadside is his large ten-room house, painted brown, and erected in 1893. He has a large red barn, forty by sixty feet, erected in 1901, also another barn, erected in 1906, besides a sheep barn, thirty-six by forty feet, and other farm buildings. In 1912 Mr. Lugar produced from his land two thousand bushels of corn, eight hundred bushels of oats, cut forty tons of hay, and sold fifty head of hogs. In 1913 he has on his pasture fifty head of sheep, and specializes in this branch of the livestock industry. He has eleven horses, twenty-eight cattle and sixty hogs. He has been identified with farming and stock-raising for many years, and is one of the men who have made a record of exceptional success.

Andrew J. Lugar was born July 8, 1852, in Washington township of Grant county, a son of Joseph and Mary (Wilson) Lugar, both of whom were natives of Virginia. Joseph Lugar was the son of George Lugar, who in the late twenties settled on Lugar Creek in Grant county, and by his own efforts and also with the aid of his family took a very important part in making Grant county, the home of industry and of a high class of people. Joseph Lugar, the father, died in 1854, and reared a family of eleven children. The family record is given in more detail in a sketch of Joseph Lugar, printed elsewhere in this work.

Andrew J. Lugar as a boy attended the district schools of Washington township. He is one of the few men still living who spent a portion of their youth in an old log school house. He recalls that the old structure he attended when a boy was of the primitive type, had a rough floor, a poorly lighted interior, and crude furnishings, while the instruction was of the type usually called the Three R's. His father was one of the largest land holders and most prosperous farmers in the county, and acquired about twelve hundred acres of land. The son Andrew lived at home until he was about twenty-six years of age, and then began for himself by farming his mother's land on shares for three years. In 1881 he made his first purchase of one hundred and seventy acres, of partially cleared land, and without any buildings on it. This original purchase is a portion of the estate above described, and has been improved in a remarkable manner since he first became owner of it. He paid twenty-five dollars an acre for land that is now worth one hundred and fifty dollars, and a large part of its value has been conferred by his own management and hard labor. He has added four additional tracts to his first purchase, making his present estate one of two hundred and seventy acres.

In 1877, Mr. Lugar married Mary Emery, a daughter of John Emery, one of the old settlers of Grant county. Mrs. Lugar died in 1891, leaving three children, namely: James, a farmer in Michigan; Andrew, a telegraph operator in Chicago; and Mrs. Isabelle Speaights, living on the home farm. In 1893, Mr. Lugar married for his second wife, Norah Morrison, a daughter of Joseph Morrison, of Van Buren township. The children of this marriage number five, namely: Joseph O., who is a bookkeeper in Van Buren; Dolly, at home; William Hobart, a student in the high school; Lelah, and Ruth, both at home. Mr. Lugar is a Republican in politics, and is affiliated with the Landessville Lodge of Odd Fellows. In November, 1912, Mr. Lugar suffered the loss of his right hand, which was caught in a corn shredder.

"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