Blackford County Biography Ref. Page

ALBERT FRANK SEIBERLING. Probably one of the leading enterprises in its line in the world, the Indiana Rubber and Insulated Wire Company has been developed to its present large proportions by a group of progressive, energetic and enterprising business men, whose fortunes are connected with this industry, and who have prospered with its remarkable prosperity. Ever since its organization, during a period of more than twenty years, Albert Frank Seiberling has held a responsible position with this concern, and has contributed much to its growth and steady advancement. A man of foresight, judgment and modern ideas, in the capacities of assistant treasurer, member of the board of directors and general superintendent, he is assisting his associates to still further forward the company's interests, but at the same time has found leisure in which to help other public-spirited men in their activities for the public welfare, and in social life has become widely known in Jonesboro.

Mr. Seiberling was born at Doylestown, Ohio, May 16, 1866, the third of the six children born to James H. Seiberling, president of the company, a sketch of the family being found in the father's sketch on another page of this work. Mr. Seiberling was given good educational advantages, first attending the public and high schools of Doylestown and later attending Eastman's Business College, at Poughkeepsie, New York where he received his diploma with the class of 1886. He received his introduction to business life with the Diamond Plate Glass Company, of Kokomo, Indiana, of which his father was a director, and with which the son continued to be associated during a period of two years, between the time of leaving Eastman and going to Kokomo. Later he joined his father in the manufacture of farming machinery at Doylestown, and continued there until 1891, when he helped to organize the Indiana Rubber and Insulated Wire Company. At that time he was made secretary of the concern, but in 1892 became superintendent, and in that same year joined the board of directors. The superintendency of this large business carries with it a great load of responsibilities. There are 400 people employed in the plant, manufacturing approximately $1,250,000 worth of goods annually, the product being automobile tires and inner tubes, a full line of rubber goods of all kinds, bicycle tires (about 1,000 per day fall and winter and 1,800 per day spring and summer) and insulated wire. The business was organized for the manufacture of the last-named product, but after three years began making robber goods, and this has since become one of the most important features of the trade. The company has the reputation of making goods that are unexcelled in quality, a reputation that is being steadfastly maintained. Every market of any size the world over carries a line of these Indiana goods, and the company has done much to spread the name and fame of Jonesboro as a manufacturing center. Mr. Seiberling is a man of energy and one able to achieve results. His associates rely upon him absolutely and he has never given them reason to regret their confidence.

In 1892, not long after coming to Jonesboro, Mr. Seiberling was united in marriage with Miss Angie B. Cline, who was born at Elwood, Indiana, July 30, 1870, but who was reared and educated in Jonesboro. She is a daughter of Adam H. Cline, a business man of Jonesboro, and a stalwart citizen and supporter of the Republican party. Mrs. Cline, whose maiden name was Mary Thamburg, died in middle life, Mrs. Seiberling at that time being twelve years of age. She was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church and a capable, Christian woman. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Seiberling, namely: Paul A., a graduate of the class of 1913, Marion High School, and now a student in Purdue University, where he is taking a course in chemical engineering; Mary Katherine, aged twelve years, who is attending the Jonesboro graded schools; the oldest and youngest died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Seiberling are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and have been active in its various movements and charities. Mr. Seiberling is a Republican in his political views, and, while he has not been an office seeker, has fulfilled the duties of citizenship as a member of the town board for thirteen years, and has been able to do much for his adopted locality. Fraternally he is popular as a member of the Masons, in which he belongs to the Blue Lodge and Chapter at Jonesboro and the Commandery at Marion, and also holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias.

"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

JOHN H. WALDRON has taken no inconsiderable part in the public affairs of Gas City, where for more than twenty-five years he has been identified with business affairs as a carpenter and contractor. It was his distinction to have been the first city treasurer elected after the incorporation of Gas City, and he served as a clerk of the old town board, and has twice been a member of the city council as alderman. In business he is one of the successful men, and is well known in the community.

Born in Adams county, Ohio, October 16, 1856, John H. Waldron came to Grant county when six years old. His mother, then a widow, located at Jalapa in Pleasant township, where he grew up and learned the trade of carpenter under Stephen Sherman. With the exception of four years he has been in business on his own account, since he acquired the principals and details of the trade.

Mr. Waldron is a son of Elijah and Lydia (Ross) Waldron. His father was a native of Ohio, as was his wife, and they were married in Adams county, locating on a farm on Brush Creek. He followed a combination of arming and coopering. A skilled mechanic, he did considerable business as a maker of tubs, and buckets and other woodenware. These wares were manufactured out of cedar. The father died in Adams county in 1861, when about thirty-six years of age, and left his widow with two sons, the other being Elijah A., who died in Mill township of Grant county in 1909, when fifty-three years old, and unmarried. The mother brought her children to Jalapa in Grant county in 1861. Later she married, but had no children by her second union. Her death occurred in Japala in 1873, when forty-nine years old. She was a member and a regular attendant of the Methodist Protestant church.

Mr. J. H. Waldron was married in Pleasant township to Miss Lydia Grindle, who was born in Pleasant township in 1865, and was reared and educated there. She separated from her husband after the birth of two children, one of whom died in infancy, and the other is Lena Ethel, wife of William Scott, of Marion. Mr. and Mrs. Scott have no children.

Mr. Waldron for his second wife was married in Union City, Indiana, to Mrs. Della Hoff. She was born in this state in April, 1859, was reared and educated here, and by her marriage to John Hoff has three living children: Earl, who is an electrical engineer at Fort Wayne, is married and has two children; Charles D., a photographer of Fort Wayne, is unmarried; and Bessie lives at home with her mother and is a thoroughly educated young woman. Mrs. Waldron is a member of the Christian church, and Mr. Waldron has membership in two fraternal societies, with Jonesboro Lodge No. 109 of the Masons, and with Jonesboro Lodge No. 82 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he is a Democrat, and his various promotions to public positions have come through the medium of that party, although his individual popularity in the city would be sufficient to elect him without party affiliation. In 1908 Mr. Waldron built a fine home at the corner of Short and North A Streets, and he and his family enjoy the best comforts of life in that attractive residence.

ISRAEL S. BENBOW. This well known citizen of Grant county lives eight miles south of Marion, on the Liberty and Green township pike, near Oak Ridge, where he is the owner of a well-cultivated tract of land. Mr. Benbow has long been identified with the agricultural interests of this section, and has also been active in public life, serving as a member of the hoard of county commissioners of Grant county for three years. He was born on a farm in Monroe township, Grant county, Indiana, July 8, 1868, and is a son of Thomas and Hannah E. (Jenkins) Benbow.

Thomas Benbow was also born in Grant county, Indiana, June 11, 1836, and was a son of Evan Benbow, the latter being a son of John Benbow, who came to Grant county, Indiana, as early as 1833 from Guilford county, North Carolina, and settled on a farm in Mill township, among the pioneers. Thomas Benbow adopted the vocation of farming in his youth, and was so engaged in Monroe township at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War. With other young men of his community he enlisted for service in the Union army, becoming a private in the Fifty-eighth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of hostilities. When peace was declared between the North and the South, Mr. Benbow resumed his farming operations, and for a long period continued to be engaged therein in Monroe township, but is now living retired from active life, having a comfortable home at Gas City. He was married in 1858 to Hannah E. Jenkins who survives him. She was born in Monroe township, Grant county, Indiana, a daughter of Israel Jenkins, a pioneer of Grant county, Indiana. Israel S. is the eldest of their children.

Israel S. Benbow received his education in the district schools of Monroe township, which he attended during three months each winter, the rest of the year being spent in assisting his father and brothers in the work of the homestead. It was but natural that he should adopt farming as a vocation, and at the time of his marriage he located on his present farm, a handsome property which he has developed to a high state of cultivation. Mr. Benbow is the owner of eighty-two acres in Liberty township and eighty acres in section 13, Center township, all of this property having been acquired through the medium of his own efforts. He carries on general farming and has also been successful in the raising of stock, and is recognized as one of the progressive, intelligent men of this part of the county.

On February 28, 1893, Mr. Benbow was united in marriage with Miss Belle Nelson, the daughter of James R. Nelson, and a member of an old and honored Grant county family. Mr. and Mrs. Benbow have had no children. They are consistent members of the New Light Christian church, and have been liberal in their support of its movements. For many years Mr. Benbow has been stalwart in his support of the principles and candidates of the Republican party, and has served his fellow-townsmen as county commissioner of Grant county, a position to which he was elected in 1907 and held for three years, and as justice of the peace in Monroe township, before he was married, a capacity in which he acted two years. In both of these offices he displayed ability and a conscientious regard for the duties of public service, winning the confidence of his townsmen, a confidence that he has been able to retain to the present time.

FRANCIS H. WIMPY. The late Francis H. Wimpy was a man of many excellent and admirable qualities, and his untimely passing at the early age of thirty-seven years was a decided loss to that community in which he made his home, and where he was highly esteemed and regarded of all who knew him. He came of an old Southern family, and he was born on his father's farm, to eighty acres of which he succeeded on the death of his father, the date of his birth being August 4, 1870. He died at his home in Mill township on February 25, 1907, leaving a widow and one daughter to mourn his loss.

Francis Wimpy was the son of Robert and Sarah (Hocket) Wimpy. The father was a native son of Georgia, and his parents were of an old Georgia family, still well known in that state. They passed their entire lives there, their son Robert being the first of that immediate branch of the Wimpy family to migrate to the north. Robert Wimpy was a young man when he first came to Indiana, and soon after he settled in Grant county he met and married Sarah Hocket, the marriage taking place in Mill township. She was a native of Ohio, born in Clinton county, and was the daughter of John and Mary (Noradack) Hocket, both of Ohio. They came to Indiana before the Civil war broke out, and here in the wilds of Grant county they purchased land that was destined to be changed into a fruitful farm under their tireless efforts. They improved a tract of one hundred and sixty acres, bringing it to a fine state of subjection, and there they passed their remaining days. They were full of years when they died, he being at the age of eighty-four and she having passed her eighty-second milestone. They were life long members of the Friends church, and were fine and sturdy specimens of American citizenship all their days. They had two sons and two daughters. One son, Barkley Hocket, still lives, and is a resident of Gypsum, Colorado.

Sarah (Hocket) Wimpy died on August 13, 1875, when her infant son, Francis H. Wimpy of this review, was nine days old. She was born in 1832, and when she married Mr. Wimpy in Mill township, they began life on the old Hocket farm. They had just built a new home on the place when she died, and the house is now occupied by the widow of her son, Francis.

After the death of his first wife, Robert Wimpy married a Miss Rush, who is still living. She has a residence in South Carolina, and she is past seventy years of age. When Mr. Wimpy died on May 15, 1899, they were residing at Winchester, Indiana, and after his death she went to South Carolina, as has been stated. Mr. Wimpy and both his wives were members of the Jonesboro Friends church, and he was a Republican in his politics. He was a soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war, but so strong were his convictions in favor of the north that he deserted at Gettysburg and came north, thereafter giving his undivided sympathy and support to the Union cause.

By his second marriage Mr. Wimpy became the father of three children,� Mida, Clayton and William. The two first named are still living, and both are single. Two sons were born of his first marriage. Asa N., the first born, is now connected with the Marion National Bank, and is married to Millie, a daughter of Noah Small.

Francis H. Wimpy, the second born son, was reared to farm life on the old home place, and in young manhood he came into possession of eighty acres of the homestead upon the passing of his father. Here his widow now resides, with their daughter. Mr. Wimpy was married in Mill township on December 4, 1889, to Miss Corintha B. Clark, who was born in Jefferson township, Grant county, Indiana, on March 26, 1870. She was reared and educated in Mill township and since the death of her late husband she has operated the farm most successfully. She is what is generally known as a ��hustler,'' and her farm is second to none in condition and improvements. Mrs. Wimpy is the daughter of Simon B. and Julia (Nottingham) Clark. The father was born in Pennsylvania, on June 22, 1832, and he was five years old when his family came to Indiana and settled in Fairmount township, Grant county. Here the father of Simon Clark, James Clark, died on May 14, 1878, at a fine old age. His wife was Sarah Simons, who died some fourteen years after her husband, when she was ninety-three years of age. They were stanch old Methodist people and reared a large family, among which Simon B., father of Mrs. Wimpy, was the youngest but one. His wife, Julia Nottingham, was born at Muncie, Indiana, on July 3, 1835, and died in Grant county on May 30, 1888. She, too, was a Methodist. They had ten children, two of which died in infancy, and the remaining eight are still living, all but one being married and having children. One of Mrs. Wimpy's brothers, John E. Clark, is assistant postmaster at Marion.

To Francis H. Wimpy and his wife one daughter was born,� Ursula Wimpy, whose natal day is November 11, 1896. She was educated at the Deer Creek School, and is now living at home with her mother. Mrs. Wimpy is a member of the Methodist church, but her daughter is affiliated with the church of the Friends as a member. They are among the most highly esteemed people of the township, and are much admired for the sturdy and independent qualities that have marked their careers, especially since the death of the husband and father.

LORA A. PRICKETT. The business enterprise of Gas City has no stronger nor better managed institution than the Custer Lumber Company, of which Lora A. Prickett is the active head. He is one of the progressive younger business men of that community.

Mr. Prickett, who represents one of the old families of Grant county, was born in Pleasant township, near Japala, September 5, 1874. His boyhood was spent on his father's homestead, and his education was supplied by the public schools and the Marion Business College of Marion. In 1896 he was taken in as a clerk and general all-around man with The Humphreys Lumber Company of Marion. He readily adapted himself to the business, and in 1900 was sent to Gas City to manage the branch office of the company. The business has a long record, having been established in Marion thirty-five years ago by D. Humphreys and Company. The original firm was at 14th and Washington streets, Marion, Indiana, and at the junction of Main Street and the Pennsylvania Railway tracks, Gas City, a site peculiarly appropriate for shipping facilities and the general convenience of the trade.

In 1900 Mr. Prickett joined Joseph L. Custer, a member of the Humphreys Lumber Company, and together they took over the Gas City end of the business as a separate concern, and carried on a partnership arrangement under the name of the Custer Lumber Company. In 1905 the company was incorporated with a capital stock of twelve thousand dollars and with the following officers: Joseph L. Custer, president; R. J. Custer, vice president; and L. A. Prickett, secretary-treasurer and manager. In 1907 Joseph L. Custer died and the subsequent changes in the personnel of the company brought about its following officers and directors: Mrs. L. A. Prickett, president; T. A. Prickett, vice president; and Lora A. Prickett, secretary-treasurer and general manager. The company is a close corporation, owned and managed by the Prickett family, and Mr. Prickett is the largest holder of stock and practically proprietor and active head of the flourishing concern. They do a big business as dealers in all kinds of building material, and in their mills manufacture an extensive line of interior finishings. From four to five skilled workmen are constantly employed in the milling department, besides those who look out for the office details and the general work of the lumber yard. The advertising motto of this concern is: "Good wood goods," and it has been the ambition of the proprietors and it can be said of them that they have succeeded in fulfilling to the very letter the standard kept up in this motto. Although their business is of a local character, they send out frequently carload lots to outside points.

Concerning the Prickett family the genealogical record places it in Grant county at the very early times, and they were certainly here before the Indians had left the country. Mr. Prickett is the grandson of William Prickett, whose residence when first known was in the state of Ohio. He was married in Pennsylvania to Catherine Rice. While William Prickett and wife were living in Ohio on a farm, their son, who became later the Rev. Thomas Prickett, and the father of the Gas City business man, was born November 1st, 1826. A few years later, when Thomas was still a child, the Pricketts left Ohio, and settled in Grant county, in the wilderness of Pleasant township. William Prickett was thus one of the hardy pioneers, and was assisted in his strenuous efforts to make a home by his loyal wife and his youthful son, Thomas. They cleared up the land, and in time had improved a good farm near Jalapa. There William Prickett and his wife died when old people, and held in the highest respect by all the community. They were among the leading members of the First Methodist religious organization in Pleasant township.

Rev. Thomas Prickett was reared on a farm, followed farming as his regular vocation and the means of support for his family, and with that combined his work as a local preacher in the Methodist church. He was a useful citizen in every walk, is still well remembered in his section of the county. Late in life he returned to Sweetser, where his death occurred in 1897. He was for many years a Democrat, but sometime before his death became a staunch Prohibitionist, and was a man who voted his principles. He was twice married, and his first wife was Miss Susanah Alexander. She died in the prime of life leaving three children. She was one of the active workers in the Methodist church, and assisted her husband in religious affairs. Rev. Thomas Prickett married for his second wife Miss Nancy White. Mrs. Prickett, who is now seventy-nine years of age, still in possession of all her faculties and a highly respected woman, lives on west Third Street in Marion, and all her active career has been as a worker and prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. She is a native of Randolph county, Indiana, having been born at an early time in that county's history. She came to womanhood in Grant county, and has lived here long enough to have witnessed nearly all the improvements which have been made by white men. She became the mother of five sons and five daughters, and Lora A. Prickett was next to the youngest in her family.

Mr. L. A. Prickett was married in Grant county to Miss Anna Sharon, who was born in Franklin township in the suburbs of Marion, in 1877. With a public school education, she entered upon life's duties well prepared and has proved not only a good home maker, but a good business woman. Her parents were James and Nancy (Lytle) Sharon. Her parents were natives of Grant county, and spent most of their time in Franklin township, though some years ago they took up their residence in Sweetser, where Mr. Sharon died in 1902. Mrs. Sharon makes her home in that village, and is now seventy-nine years of age. Both were old-time Methodists, and honest upright people, a certain definite moral influence in their community, where they were always esteemed for their sterling worth. Mr. Prickett and wife are the parents of three children: Martha Helen Gwendoline, aged eleven years and now attending the public schools of Gas City; Richard Carlton, aged five years; and Mary Adelaide, eighteen months old at this writing. Mr. Prickett has just completed a fine new bungalow home in the best residential section of East Main Street, and there he and his family are prepared to enjoy the best comforts of domestic existence. They are active members of the First Methodist Church, Mr. Prickett being an official in the society, and he is well known in fraternal affairs, having passed the different chairs of the Masonic Lodge, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, having represented the last two in the Grand Lodge, and is also affiliated with the Improved Order of Red Men. In politics he is a Democrat.

Deb Murray