Blackford County Biography Ref. Page

HENRY CLAPPER. The career of Henry Clapper, now one of the honored retired citizens of Jonesboro, has been crowded with experiences of an interesting nature, and with activities that have brought him financial independence and public position. He is a member of a pioneer family of Indiana, and has seen the state grow and develop from a sparsely settled wilderness of timber into one of the leading agricultural, commercial and industrial commonwealths of the Union. He has borne no small part in this great development, and as soldier, citizen and public official has ever merited the esteem in which he is universally held.

Henry Clapper, the great-grandfather of Henry of this review, was probably born in Holland, and came early to America, settling in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, where he spent the greater part of his life as a farmer. It is thought that he died after the close of the Revolutionary war, but he was not a soldier in that struggle. His son, Henry Clapper II, was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and there spent his entire life, being married twice and both of his wives dying in that county. By his first union he had a son, Henry Clapper III, the father of our subject, who was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 1791. His mother died when he was a child, and when his father married again the youth could not live peaceably with his stepmother and accordingly, when seventeen or eighteen years of age, left home and journeyed to Ohio, where he settled in the vicinity of Zanesville. At the outbreak of the War of 1812, Mr. Clapper enlisted in Captain Shane's company, and throughout the struggle that followed, served valiantly as a soldier. When peace had been declared, he drew his pay of ninety-six dollars, and this he placed in his saddlebag and started out for Stark county, Ohio. While crossing Sugar Creek on horseback, his horse, although a good swimmer, lost its footing and rolled over, losing the saddlebag and the silver therein, which was never recovered. Mr. Clapper was near his destination, however, the home of Christopher Smith, with whom he secured employment, and not long thereafter, about 1817 or 1818 he married the daughter, Mary Smith, who had been born about 1798. Her grandfather, Christopher Smith's father, had come from either Holland or Germany prior to the outbreak of the American War for Independence, through which he served as a soldier in General Wayne's Command. He subsequently located in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, where Christopher Smith was born. The latter was there married to a Pennsylvania girl and at a very early day they journeyed across the mountains to Stark county, Ohio, securing government land near Sugar Creek, where they founded a home and spent the remainder of their lives. Mr. Smith attained the advanced age of ninety-six years, while the mother passed away some three years later, being past ninety. Their daughter, Mary, the mother of Henry Clapper, was born in Pennsylvania, but was reared and educated in Stark county, Ohio. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Clapper located on a small farm, in addition to cultivating which, Mr. Clapper followed the trade of cooper, a vocation which he had learned in his youth. They resided in Stark county for many years, but just prior to the outbreak of the Civil war came to Blackford county, Indiana and located one mile southwest of Hartford City, where they spent the remainder of their lives, Mr. Clapper dying at the age of eighty- four years and the mother when past seventy-four. They were not professed members of any religious denomination, but were kindly Christian people who won esteem and respect for their many sterling qualities. Mr. Clapper was a whig in his political views and later joined the ranks of the Republican party, although he never sought public preferment as an office holder. Of the children of Henry and Mary Clapper, but two are living: Henry, and Mrs. Rachel Diskey, of Hartford City. Two brothers of Henry Clapper of Jonesboro were soldiers during the Civil war: John and Christopher. The former returned safely to his home and lived for a number of years after the close of the struggle between the states, but the latter died while in the Atlanta campaign with General Sherman, at Huntsville, Alabama, of pneumonia. They had both enlisted from Blackford county, Indiana.

Henry Clapper was born in Stark county, Ohio, January 6, 1827, and was twenty-two years of age when he removed to Blackford county, Indiana. Three years later, with a company of twenty adventurous spirits, he started for the gold diggings of California by way of the Isthmu, but the vessel, an old and unseaworthy ship, was driven by the trade winds far out of its course, and before a landing was effected in the Hawaiian Islands the crew and passengers were nearly starved. The trip to the Golden state consumed almost six months, and there Mr. Clapper spent some two and one-half years, with but indifferent success. Returning to Indiana at the end of this period, he soon equipped himself for a trapping and hunting trip in Michigan, and there spent a year, killing sixty-eight elk and many deer, and securing on an average of twenty-five pelts of smaller animals a day. At the outbreak of the Civil war, Mr. Clapper answered his country's first call for troops, enlisting in the Twelfth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under Capt. Thomas Doan, Col. Lew Wallace commanding. While he enlisted for three years, the regiment was assigned to the one year's service. Mr. Clapper saw much active service and received his honorable discharge, following which he returned to Blackford county and during the next thirty years was identified with the movements and activities which built up that section in various ways. He was a dry goods merchant at Hartford City for twelve years, and served in the capacities of justice of the peace and drainage commissioner for a long period. In 1893 he came to Jonesboro, retired from active pursuits and still makes this his home.

Mr. Clapper has been married five times, and his first two wives bore him two children each, all dying young. By his third union he had no children, and by his fourth marriage he had two children: Maxwell, a resident of Hartford City, Indiana; and Mrs. Edna S. Kirkpatrick of the same city. Mr. Clapper married for his fifth wife, Mrs. Mary J. Snyder, nee Colgan, who was born October 28, 1856, in Miami county, Ohio, of Irish parentage. She came to Wells county, Indiana, with her parents, John H. and Eunice (Patterson) Colgan, and when sixteen years of age was brought to Hartford City. Mr. Colgan served as a soldier during the Civil war in an Ohio volunteer regiment, and died at the Soldiers' Home, Lafayette, Indiana, November 18, 1910. The mother, who was seventy-five years of age September 20, 1913, still survives and makes her home at Jonesboro. She is a member of the Friends Church. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Clapper: H. Clyde, a glass blower of Jonesboro, who is married and has a daughter, Beulah; Fred H., connected with the stove factory at Jonesboro, who is married and has a son, Wayne; Paris, a stove mounter and inventive genius, who lives at home with his parents; and Herbert, who is in his second year in the Jonesboro High school. Mr. and Mrs. Clapper are consistent members of the Seventh Day Adventist church. He is a Republican, takes a keen interest in the success of his party, and is ever ready to support movements which his judgment tells him will make for better conditions in his adopted 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

LEANDER CAREY. Now living retired at Jonesboro, Leander Carey has spent the greater part of his life in Grant county, represents some fine old Quaker stock in this region, and in his own career has exemplified the quiet industry, effective virtues and the religious devotion, which have been noteworthy in the various members of the Carey household.

Leander Carey was born in Fairmount township, May 10, 1855, and lived and grew up in the county, was educated in its country schools, and followed farming here until 1880. The following fourteen years were spent in the states of Kansas and Nebraska, and since then he has once more resumed residence in the county of his birth.

Grandfather John Carey, Sr., was born in Pennsylvania, lived most of his life in Ohio, where he died, and his death occurred following a visit to Pennsylvania, where he had some duties to perform. He was born in 1783, and died about 1850. John Carey, Sr., married Margaret Green, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1782, and died in Ohio when quite an old lady. They were both Quakers, and of old Pennsylvania stock, being very devout in their religion and simple and unworldly, but successful people.

John Carey, Jr., son of John Carey, Sr., and father of Leander Carey, was born in Ohio, March 17, 1818. For his first wife he married Eliza Moon, who was born in Ohio, about 1820, and was married in that state. She died in 1847, and was the mother of eight children, two of whom died young and the others are mentioned as follows: Elias, Pleasant, Charles, Panina, Margaret, and Susanna, all of whom are deceased, except the last, who is now Mrs. Scott of Fairmount township. John Carey after the death of his first wife brought his family to Wayne county, Indiana, and there married Mrs. Lydia Hollingsworth, who was born a Jones, daughter of Richard and Hannah (Thomas) Jones. Some years after their marriage John Carey and wife moved to Grant county, settling in Fairmount township, and acquired ownership of considerable land both in that township and in Mill township. Their home was many years in Fairmount township, but late in life he moved to Jonesboro, and died here in July, 1895, his wife surviving him and passing away in Fairmount in 1909. She was then very old, having been born in 1822. Both were birthright Quakers, and for forty-five years John Carey was a hardworking and faithful preacher of the Friends church. He lived up to his creed, and was a man of deep spiritual nature, and one of the best evangelists of his locality. While he succeeded in business he was ever ready to neglect his own affairs in order to carry on his religious work. In polities he remained true to the Republican party until 1884, but after that was a Prohibitionist. By his second wife John Carey had eight children, and Leander was fourth among them. These children are mentioned as follows: Richard; John T., in whose sketch found elsewhere in this work are given a number of other details concerning this interesting family stock; Isaac; Leander; Lindlay M.; Hannah J.; Eliza, deceased; and Anna. All are living and married except Eliza, who died after her marriage to Thomas J. Pierce and she left three children.Leander Carey was first married in Fairmount on September 3, 1675, to Minerva, a daughter of Jesse and Sarah Reece. Her parents were early settlers of Grant county, and died in their county. Mrs. Minerva Carey died in Kansas July 3, 1882. She was the mother of three children: Lillie H., who died at the age of eighteen; Jesse R., and Eliza J., both of whom died in the same year as their mother. Rev. Jesse Reece, father of Mrs. Carey was a well known Quaker preacher, and his daughter was reared and held to that faith all her life.

While living in Nebraska, Mr. Carey married for his second wife, Miss Mary Julia Munns, who was born in Decatur county, Indiana, May 18, 1855, was reared in her native county, and was a daughter of Archibald and Sallie (Miller) Munns, both now deceased. Her father died in Rush county, Indiana, January 1, 1910, and her mother passed away in Grant county in 1908. The Munns family were Methodists in religion. Mr. and Mrs. Carey have no children. They are members of the Methodist Protestant church. For many years Mr. Carey supported the Republican party, but is now a Prohibitionist, both in principle and in action.

Mr. Carey is the acknowledged leader of the Carey family in this part of Indiana, and was for two years president of the Carey Annual Reunion, and had done a great deal to keep the various branches of the name in touch with each other, and to stimulate pride and interest in the family lineage.

JOHN C. KNIGHT, M. D. After graduating with the class of 1881 from the Kentucky School of Medicine, Dr. Knight first offered his professional services to the community of Jonesboro, where he was already known as a hard-working student and later as a teacher. Patronage was not long in coming, and for thirty years he has been well established, not only as a first-class doctor, but as a man-of influential citizenship. Of the physicians in practice at Jonesboro, when he opened office, all are now gone, and he is therefore dean of the local fraternity. Dr. Knight has membership and is a former president of the County Medical Society, and also belongs to the State Society and the American Medical Association, while he is a member of the United States district examining hoard for marine and military service.

John C. Knight was born in Madison county, Indiana, October 24, 1856. His education was acquired in the Grant County schools, and owing to the early loss of his parents he was reared largely in the homes of friends and began doing for himself when a boy. His father, Sebborn G. Knight, was born in the County of Essex at Colchester, England, about 1820, and was the only one of his family to leave England and establish a home in America. He grew up and was educated in his native locality, and when a young man of about eighteen years started for the United States, making the voyage in a sailing vessel, and from the Atlantic Coast came on to Grant county and finally established himself in Madison county, where he married Mary E. Parsons. She was born about 1825, in Madison county, of one of the very earliest families there, and after their marriage they located on a farm in Grant county but eventually returned to Madison county where the mother died in 1858 while in middle life. The father died there in 1860. They were good Christian people, and their family of children are stated as follows: William, who died in Iowa, in 1909 at the age of fifty-six was a farmer, and left three children as follows: John E., Birnet D., wife of William Dove; and Glenn, all of whom live in Iowa, and are married with the exception of Glenn. Mary E., the second child, married Sylvanis C. Thompson, who died November 25, 1913, and she now lives in Marion. The next in order of birth was Dr. Knight. Charles E., a Grant county farmer in Jefferson township, had by his first marriage a daughter, Josephine, who is now the wife of Charles Lloyd of Fairmount. One daughter was born to the doctor's father by a second wife, and is now Mrs. Elizabeth Davidson of Fairmount.

Dr. Knight was fostered through his childhood and youth largely by Thomas Harvey and wife of Grant county, who are now deceased. He came to Jonesboro, and by his own efforts attained an education in the high school, and subsequently earned money as a teacher to put him through medical college. He was married in Jonesboro to Miss Josephine Wilson, who was born in 1860 in Grant county, received her education in this vicinity, and her parents were William G. and Keziah (Spence) Wilson, both now deceased. Her father was born in Virginia, and her mother in Ohio, and they were married in Grant county, and died at Jonesboro. William Wilson was one of the early cabinet makers and undertakers at Jonesboro, and his vocation recalls an older custom. In earlier days, at a death, an order was placed with a coffin maker for a coffin according to the proper measurements, since the undertakers carried no stock of such merchandise, and all the coffins were made by hand and to order. William Wilson filled that very important service in the community of Jonesboro for a number of years. The Wilsons were Presbyterians in religion. Mrs. Knight died at Jonesboro, November 16, 1908. She was for many years an active worker in the Methodist church, a member of the Ladies Aid and the Missionary Society, and was greatly missed both in church circles and in her home. Dr. Knight and wife had no children. He has membership in the Jonesboro Lodge, No. 109, A. F. & A. M., and the Knight Templar Commandery, belongs to the subordinate lodge, No. 82, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Jonesboro, and has filled all the chairs in lodge, No. 102 of the Knights of Pythias. A Republican in politics, he has for the past twenty years at different times served as a member of the board of education, and is now secretary of the board.

WILLIAM EMBREE. One of the oldest families of Grant county, and one which has furnished prominent and useful citizens in every walk of life, is that bearing the name of Embree, which for eighty years has been represented in this part of Indiana. In business, in agriculture, in the professions and in public and private life, those bearing this name have proved themselves capable and worthy of every trust and the name has become known as synonymous with integrity and upright living. A worthy representative of this old and honored family is found in the person of William Embree, a farmer of the younger generation, who is carrying on successful operations in section 12, Center township. He was born on the farm on which he now resides, March 27, 1883, and is a son of Silas and Sarah A. (Lugar) Embree.

The founder of the family in Grant County was Jesse Embree, who came to this locality from Ohio, and passed the remaining years of his life in developing a farm from the timber. His son, John Embree, was a child of two years when brought here, and he continued his father's work in cultivating land and in maintaining the family reputation for honesty and industry. John Embree married Sophia Yont, and they became the parents of several children, of whom two grew to maturity: Silas; and Mary, who became the wife of A. J. Lugar, and is now deceased, having been the mother of three children. Silas Embree, the father of William Embree, was born on the old family homestead place in section 12, Center township, and on reaching manhood adopted the vocation of his fathers, becoming a tiller of the soil, an occupation which occupied his attention during the entire period of his active life. He was successful in his operations, accumulating a nice property, and became known as one of his community's practical and substantial men. Mr. Embree married Sarah A. Lugar, and they became the parents of two children: Orville A. of Center township, who married Estella J. Love and has four children; and William.

William Embree received his education in district school No. 1, in Center township, and in the meantime was thoroughly trained in agricultural work, having decided upon farming as his chosen field of endeavor. He was industrious and ambitious, and when about sixteen years of age left school to devote his entire time to farming, and at the time of his father's retirement he took over the management of the home place, of which he is now the owner. Mr. Embree has 160 acres under a high state of cultivation, this land being located five miles east of Marion, on the Monroe pike, a handsome property which he is steadily improving. His buildings are commodious, his land well ditched and drained, his machinery of the latest manufacture, and his stock sleek and well fed, and the able manner in which he is handling his affairs gives him the right to be named among the progressive young farmers of the county.

On June 30, 1908, Mr. Embree was married to Miss Debbie Wright, who was born July 5, 1890, in Fairmount township, Grant county, Indiana, and a graduate of the public schools of that locality. Two children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Embree: Dorothy E., born February 26, 1910; and Charles W., born November 3, 1911. In political matters Mr. Embree was a Republican until the campaign of 1912, at which time he transferred his allegiance to the new Progressive party, the policies of which he believed at the time to best protect the interests of the people. His activities in the political field, however, have been confined to supporting his party. He is a good and energetic citizen, and has made manifest a commendable public spirit on a number of occasions, while personally he is possessed of qualities which have won him a wide circle of sincere friends.

WILLIAM VALENTINE COX. Beautiful Greenwood Place in section thirty-one of Fairmount township and twenty acres across the range line in section thirty-six of Liberty township is the home of William Valentine Cox. This is one of the small, but in many ways, most attractive and valuable places in the farming area of Grant county. A farmer all his life, Mr. Cox has devoted his energies rather to the intensive cultivation of his land than to the wholesale and somewhat wasteful methods of old-fashioned agriculture. His specialty is the production of fruits, and the results he obtains from his small place are certainly gratifying. Practically every foot of the forty acres in Greenwood Place is employed for profitable use. The crops are apples, pears, plums, cherries and other varieties of fruits and his long experience as a fruit grower gives his judgment an authority which is safe to follow. Every acre of his land has been brought to a point of fertility where it produces at full capacity. Eighty or ninety bushels of corn to the acre are not an unusual yield on the Cox place, while in his special crop of tomatoes he grows from twelve to fifteen tons of that fruit to the acre. His oats will average more than fifty-five bushels to the acre, and a part of his farm is also down in alfalfa. The prevailing color of all the buildings on the place is white, and the white farm house and barns with silo, in the midst of the green of the surrounding trees, makes a very effective rural picture. His silo has a capacity of fifty-five tons, and indicates another progressive feature of his farming methods, since he allows nothing to go to waste, and employs the best methods for keeping up the fertility of his land.

William Valentine Cox was born in Liberty township, of Grant county, forty-six years ago. His parents were William and Elizabeth (Wilson) Cox, an old and prominent family whose members and connections have long been identified with Grant county, and detailed information concerning the genealogy and careers of the family since it was established in this county will be found on other pages of this volume, particularly in the sketch of Nathan P. Cox.

William V. Cox grew up and received his education in the district schools. Farming has been his activity since boyhood and he has owned and occupied his present place since 1891, a period of twenty-two years. Mr. Cox was married in Fairmount City to Miss Idella Rush, who was born in Fairmount two months later in the same year in which her husband's birth occurred. Her early training was received in the Fairmount City schools. She was a daughter of Joseph and Ursulla (Tharp) Rush. Her father was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, and her grandfather, AzeI Rush, came north to Grant county, Indiana, when Joseph was a boy. Here he grew up and during early manhood he married Mrs. Ursulla McFarland, whose maiden name was Tharp. Her first husband was Uriah McFarland, a soldier of the Union, who in one engagement was unhorsed, and from the effects of the wound received at that time never recovered. Joseph Rush died about 1871, and his widow subsequently married James Tuttle, who is also deceased, while she lives a hale and hearty old lady at her home in Fairmount. She and her three husbands were active members of the Wesleyan Methodist faith. Mrs. Cox was the only child of her father, and was still young when his death occurred. No children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Cox, but they reared a foster-daughter, Muriel, who was carefully trained in their home and had her education in the local schools. She was graduated from the Fairmount high school in 1910, and has given special attention to the study of music, in which she is unusually talented. Mrs. Cox died October 6th, 1913. She was long a member of Black Creek Wesleyan church, and her husband still retains his membership in that church. Formerly a Republican in politics, Mr. Cox in later years has given his allegiance to the Prohibition party, voting the ticket straight and doing what he can for the cause.

Deb Murray