Blackford County Biography Ref. Page

THOMAS B. DOYLE. Notable among the well-to-do and retired men of Van Buren is Thomas B. Doyle, who makes his home on a remnant of his once extensive estate, which he has given away piecemeal to his sons and daughters as they were established independently in life. Mr. Doyle was born in a cabin home in Van Buren township on March 5, 1842, and is a son of Samuel Doyle, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work.

Thomas B. Doyle was early inured to the hardships of pioneer life, which in these early days was no sinecure, and he launched out for himself as soon as he reached man's estate. Samuel Doyle, his father, gave to him a piece of virgin forest land, one hundred and sixty acres in the tract, the same having been originally entered by one William Barton, although the land was deeded direct to Thomas Doyle, who cleared it bit by bit, built a house upon it, and there established his home and reared his family. He accumulated a goodly bit of land in his day in the township, and when his children reached years of maturity he gave each of them a piece of land to start them out in life. Forty acres went to his eldest daughter, Sarah; then he gave to his son George an eighty acre tract. He next divided an eighty between his son Samuel T. and a daughter, and he gave to John A. an eighty as well, while his daughter Rose was the recipient of a forty acre plot. In 1890 Mr. Doyle came to Van Buren and bought sixty-six acres, since that time making his home here. A part of the piece has been platted for town lots, but there yet remains forty-four and a half acres, upon which he makes his home. Mr. Doyle has led a busy and active life, and after giving to a large family land to make them independent, he still retains enough of desirable property in the township to maintain him properly.

Mr. Doyle has been a man of no little prominence in his community for many years, and he has served the township in many important capacities. While still a very young man he was township assessor for eight consecutive years, and he has served in his private capacity as guardian and administrator for a number of estates in the township, being a man who was much trusted and esteemed by his neighbor's and all acquaintances. He has a wide acquaintance in the county as a result of his long residence here and the nature of his activities during his business career.

Some four years ago Mr. Doyle sustained an injury to his head, as a result of falling from a shed to the ground while engaged in putting away hay, and since that time he has suffered excessively poor health, but prior to that he was a man of the greatest vigor of body and mind. He was in his younger days a great hunter, and when the game thinned out in Indiana, he betook himself to the wilds of Wisconsin and Minnesota, where the nimble deer still may be found in season. He has in his possession a fine moose head trophy, which he secured in the Maine woods, this head being admittedly one of the largest mounted moose heads in existence today.

In November, 1860, Mr. Doyle was married to Miss Margaret Kessinger, of Monroe township. She is the daughter of George and Leah (Wilkins) Kessinger, natives of Highland county, Ohio, where they were married, moving later to Grant county in Monroe township in the year 1837. Mrs. Doyle was born in 1844. To her and her husband have been born nine children, of which number they reared six. They are as follows: Sarah J., the wife of John Anderson, of Van Buren township, born September 21, 1863; George W., born November 11, 1864, is a farmer at home; Samuel F., born January 29, 1867, lives in Van Buren; John A., born April 12, 1868, lives on the old home place; Mrs. Rose Waggaman, born March 13, 1876, lives on a farm near Van Buren; and Mrs. Nora Sellers, born on September 29, 1880, lives in Wells county. The children who are deceased are: Mathew, born September 2, 1861, died August 29, 1862; Annetta, born September 25, 1872, died November 10, 1874; and Addie, born March 19, 1878, died in October, 1878.

Mrs. Doyle is one of the eight children of her parents, they being named here in the order of their birth, as follows: Absalom, of Elk county, Kansas; Abram, living in Tennessee; Susanna, deceased, was the wife of Eli Coulter; Nancy Coulter, living in Florida; Margaret, Mrs. Doyle, who was born on February 11, 1844; Shadrach, now deceased; Eugene, who died in Kansas; and John, a resident of Arkansas.

Mr. Doyle is a Democrat in his political adherence, though not especially active as a politician, and his fraternal relations are with the Odd Fellows, the Rebekahs and the I. O. R. M. On November 18, 1910, Mr. and Mrs. Doyle celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, the event being attended by a large gathering of family and friends, and fitting ceremoniaIs commemorating the happy event of a half century ago.

It is a fact worthy of mention here that the home place of Mr. Doyle today was once the camping ground of the Indians, who stopped there in the way from Godfrey's battle ground and pitched their wagons. Seen in the light of recent developments, it is difficult to reconcile this well established fact with the present metropolitan appearance of the place, but it serves to emphasize something of the extent of the progress of the community in the space of a half century.

"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 T. WILLIAMS. Highly respected for his industry and for the upright and honorable life which he has led, John T. Williams is one of the best known of the older residents of Marion, Indiana. Mr. Williams has now retired from active life but for many years he was a prosperous farmer in this vicinity and he has held a number of public offices. In each position of public trust which he has held he has carried out the ideals of high living that he held in his private life, and he is widely known as a conscientious and a just administrator of the affairs of his fellow citizens.

John T. Williams was born in Warren county, Ohio, on the 22d of April, 1844, the son of William and Alice (Hopkins) Williams. Both the latter were born in Glamorshire, Wales, coming to the United States as a young married couple. They spent five years in Philadelphia and then located in Warren county, Ohio. After spending nearly twelve years in Ohio they removed to Indiana, locating in Washington township in Grant county, Indiana. This was in 1847 and they bought the farm upon which they lived until their death. William Williams died at the age of eighty-seven and his wife died at the age of eighty.

John T. Williams lived on the farm during his boyhood, and passed the ordinary existence of a farmer's son until the outbreak of the Civil war turned his thoughts to arms. He was too young at the beginning of the war to go to the front, but in the spring of 1864 he enlisted in Company I, of the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Indiana Infantry. His regiment did guard duty in Alabama and Tennessee until the close of the war. Returning home he remained with his father, helping him on the farm until he was married at the age of twenty-four. He then became a farmer on his own account and in 1882 he purchased the home farm of one hundred and sixty acres near Marion. He later added to this property, until it comprised two hundred and forty acres. After a time he bought a tract of ninety acres and erected a home upon it, later adding more land until the farm comprised one hundred and twenty-two acres. He has now lived retired in Marion for many years.

In 1888 Mr. Williams was elected trustee of Washington township on the Republican ticket. He was chosen sheriff of Grant county in 1892 and in 1898 was elected county commissioner. In fraternal matters he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows being a charter member of the Landesville Lodge.

Mr. Williams was married on the 28th of December, 1868, to Susan Middleton, a daughter of William and Margaret (Strickle) Middleton, of Center township, Mrs. Williams being a native of the latter district. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Williams, as follows: Will, a resident of Marion, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work; Gertrude, who is the wife of Allen Culbertson; John D.; Agnes; Claude and Burrell.

WILL WILLIAMS. Among the men who have played a prominent part in the affairs of Marion, Indiana, may be mentioned the name of Will Williams. He is now a contractor handling a large business and he has taken an active part in public matters in Marion and in Grant county for a number of years. He is a man of wide personal popularity as has been shown by the number of offices which he has held, and in all of his positions of public trust he has always remembered that he was the servant of the people and their welfare has always been of the first consideration with him, a trait that is often not to be found in our public officials.

Will Williams was born in Washington township, Grant county, Indiana, on the 24th of April, 1870. His father is John T. Williams and his mother is Susanah (Middleton) Williams, well known citizens of Marion. Will Williams received his education in the public schools of Grant county and after his student days were over he went back into the school room as a teacher. He spent six years teaching school in Washington township, Grant county and it was not until 1892 that he entered public life. He now became deputy sheriff of Grant county, and for about two years he served in this office. He then went out of office and for a time was engaged in business as a general contractor. In 1898 he became deputy postmaster and served in this capacity until 1900 when he became secretary of the police board. After two years in this work, he being time first secretary of the Metropolitan Police board, he resigned to take the office of deputy sheriff. For four years he held this office and won the respect of criminals for the brave way in which he carried out his duties and of the public for his fidelity to his office. After his term as deputy sheriff was over he was elected treasurer of the city of Marion and served in this capacity from 1906 until 1910. During the latter year he was elected chairman of the Republican County Central Committee and served his party faithfully in this capacity. He is now engaged in general contracting work again, devoting himself in the main to road and street work and he has attained considerable success in this business.

Mr. Williams is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, belonging to the Marion Lodge No. 105. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, affiliating with the lodge at Landesville and he is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he is a member of the Republican party. For a number of years he was secretary of the Grant County Fair Association and in every way that has been possible for him to show his interest in the progress and development of this section of the state he has been active.

On December 24, 1889, Mr. Williams was married to Miss Helen Howard, of Washington township, and three children, one of whom is dead, have been born to this union. The two living children are Glen, born February 8, 1892, and Robert who was born November 7, 1906. Wade, time first born, died at the age of two years and seven months.

Mrs. Williams who was born on her father's farm in Washington township, is a daughter of Capt. John A. and Susanah (Kirkpatrick) Howard. Capt. John A. Howard is a son of Morris Howard, a soldier in the War of 1812, and an early pioneer of Grant county, Indiana. John A. Howard's wife is a daughter of William Kirkpatrick, also a pioneer of Grant county, Indiana. Capt. John A. Howard and wife now reside in Marion. He is a retired farmer, and he was a captain in the Civil war.

OTTO SMALL. In writing of those men of Marion and Grant county who have been undeniably prominent in the life of the communities with which they have been identified, it is due to the Smalls that extended mention be made of the family in this work. Otto Small, secretary of the Ballard Packing Company, and a resident of Marion, his birth city, practically all his life, is the representative of the family who is at this time chosen for especial mention, in connection with others of the family who have had their full share in the growth and development of the county in the past half century. A useful, though quiet career, has been his, and his name is one that is held in just esteem wherever he is known.

The Small family was located in Grant county in the early thirties, being established by the paternal grandfather of the immediate subject of this review, Jesse Small�and he was one of the earliest settlers of the county. He married Millicent Ratliff, and seven children were born to them, Joseph Small, the father of the subject, being the eldest of the number. They were farming people, and gave their lives to the development of the farming industry in the county at a time when identity with that enterprise was associated with hardships that the agriculturist of the present day is utterly innocent of.

Joseph Small followed in his father's path, and he came to be a prosperous and well-to-do farming man. His last years he spent in retirement. He owned a fine farm where Thirty-first and Washington streets later were laid out, and he also farmed in the vicinity of the Marion Soldiers' Home, the present site of the building having yielded him bountiful crops in by-gone days. He died on December 10, 1906, at the age of sixty-eight years, after a life well spent in his native community, where he enjoyed the esteem of all, and where he had been prominent in civic and social circles, as well as having shared in the duties of public service as trustee of Center township for two terms. He married in early life, choosing for his mate Sarah Ann, the daughter of Joel Overman and Mary (Smith) Overman, a pioneer family of Grant county. To Joseph and Sarah Ann (Overman) Small were born five children, all of whom are still living. Otto Small of this review was the first born of the five; Viola is still at home with her mother, who now lives on West Sixth street, Marion; Mrs. C. V. Wade, of Franklin township, is the third child; Mrs. E. E. Leapley is a resident of Marion; and Mrs. A. N. Wimpy is also a resident of this city.

Otto Small was born on the farm of his parents, the same having been located where the Evans Glass Factory is now busily engaged in the manufacture of lamp chimneys amid globes that are famous the world over. He attended the public schools as a boy and after he had finished his schooling turned his attention to farming. He continued in that work for a number of years, and in 1901 united his fortunes with those of the Ballard Packing Company of Marion. His interest in the concern grew as the business expanded, and it was not long before he became a stockholder in the corporation, with the duties of the office of secretary and treasurer laid upon him. The firm is well officered and managed along the most conservative lines, yet the most modern methods are employed in the manipulation of its affairs. A general packing business is carried on, and the firm is one of the best known and most prosperous in the city.

Mr. Small was married on April 15, 1906, to Miss Rose Ward, a daughter of William Ward, a well known farming man of the county, who is now deceased. Two children were born to them�Edna M., who died on August 6, 1910, and Martha A. Small. Mr. and Mrs. Small are members of the Friends' church, of which he is a trustee, and it is a fact worthy of mention that his parents also were members of the same church. His mother was a granddaughter of Eli and Polly (Thomas) Overman, stanch old Quakers of Grant county, and on both sides of the house for three generations that faith has been the predominant one, its influence being felt as strongly in the present day representatives of the family as it ever was in the early days of the century.

Mr. Small is a Mason, affiliating with Marion Lodge No. 105, and he is a life-long Republican, but never an office seeker or holder. He has a fine farm in Liberty township, to which he gives some attention.

DAVID EDWIN BOLLER. In writing of the many prosperous and successful farming men of Van Buren township, mention should not be omitted concerning the life and accomplishment of David Edward BoIler, the owner of two fine farms in the township, and one of the well-to-do men of the community. Mr. Boller has made successful farming the main interest of his career, and that he has realized his ambition is immediately apparent from an inspection of his property. In 1912 he cropped from one hundred and eighty acres, two thousand bushels of corn, seventeen hundred bushels of oats and thirty tons of hay. He sold one hundred hogs at the close of the season, and this was not an exceptional year by any means. The figures, however, serve to indicate something of the extent of his activities in the agricultural line.

Born in Washington township, Grant county, October 11, 1858, David Edwin Boller is the son of James and Ruth E. (Atherton) Boller, natives of England and Pennsylvania respectively. The father died when Mr. Boller was a mere child. Of the eight children, the others are named as follows: John, Adam, Belle, Louise, Maria, Reuben, and Keturah.

David E. Boller was educated in the public schools of Washington township, and continued on the home place with his mother and the others until he was twenty-one years old. He then applied himself to farm labor for two seasons, after which he married and spent some time on the farm of Dr. Lomax in Franklin township. For some years thereafter he rented land and farmed on his own responsibility. It was in 1884 that he purchased his first land, a forty-acre tract in section 28, Van Buren township, directly across the road from his present farm. He later sold that forty acres, and in 1900 bought his present farm, built a fine home upon it, and moved his family into it. The house is a modern, up-to-date and comfortable ten-room dwelling, entirely suited to country life and lacking none of the essentials that make for comfort and the well being of the various members of the family, among its modern facilities being a fine basement, hot and cold water service, bathroom and other conveniences. In 1901 Mr. Boller erected a barn on ground dimensions of thirty-six by sixty feet, the industry of his farm being such as to require a barn of that size and the same is cropped to its utmost capacity from season to season as a result of the husbandry of the owner.

On December 21, 1881, Mr. Boller was married to Belle Watson. Mrs. Boller was born in Kokomo, Indiana, March 22, 1864, and is a daughter of John and Mary Ann (Miller) Watson. John Watson was born in Darke county, Ohio, of Scotch ancestry. He came to Howard county, Indiana, as a boy and was always a farmer. His wife, Mary Ann (Miller) Watson, was a native of Grant county, and after their marriage John Watson and wife lived for a number of years in the western part of this county. Mrs. Watson died at their home there when Mrs. Boller was nine years of age. John Watson, late in life lived at the home of his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Boller, in Van Buren township, and died there March 14, 1912, lacking but a month of being seventy-nine years of age. David E. Boller and wife have seven children as follows: Carey, an oil worker, now living at Lawrenceville, Illinois, married Myrtle Fighner, and they have one child, Neva B.; Charles, a farmer who resides on part of his father's estate in Van Buren township, married Cecil Anderson, and their two children are Harriet Kathleen and Evelyn Maxine; Elva is the wife of John Allman, an oil leaser of Wells county, Indiana, and she is the mother of one son, Kenneth B. Nelson, by a former marriage; John W., a farmer of Monroe township, married Hulda Hayes, and their two children are Dorothy E., and Nelson E.; Roy is a farmer of Van Buren township, and married Elsie Lozier; Ethel is the wife of Homer Pulley, a Washington township farmer, and their child is Glen Leroy; Ruth E., is the wife of Burr Emdsley, a Van Buren township farmer.

Mr. Boller is sufficiently progressive that he makes use of a fine automobile for business and pleasure, and the spirit that prompted that innovation in farm life has characterized his activities all his life. Politically he is a Democrat, and he and his family are adherents of the Methodist Episcopal church of Van Buren.

GODLOVE G. ECKHART, M. D. Ideals are not attained without ideas, and thus a career must first he thought out and then fought out. One of the ambitious and resourceful representatives of the medical profession in Grant county is Dr. Eckhart, and he is a young man whose career has shown that he has had the sagacity to project a dream and the tenacity to perfect therefrom the means by which to realize his laudable ambition. He is engaged in the practice of his profession in the city of Marion and is now devoting his attention exclusively to surgery, the lessons of his personal experience and that of others having demonstrated to him the expediency of concentration or specialization in his chosen vocation. His success has fully demonstrated his wisdom and he has gained secure and definite reputation in the domain of scientific and practical surgery, in which he exemplifies the most approved of modern ideas and systems, with many delicate and successful operations to his credit, both in major and minor surgery. As one of the able and popular representatives of his profession in Grant county he is well entitled to specific recognition in this volume, and his broad conceptions of citizenship are shown in his loyalty and marked public spirit.

Dr. Eckhart has a due measure of pride in adverting to the fine old Hoosier state as the place of his nativity, even as he has found it an attractive and satisfactory field for his productive activities in his chosen calling. He was born on a farm in Washington township, Tippecanoe county, Indiana, on the 18th of December, 1882, and his parents, Basler and Louise (Snyder) Eckhart, were both born in Germany, the latter being now deceased. The active career of the father has been one of close identification with the great basic industry of agriculture and he now resides in the village of Buck Creek, Tippecanoe county, where he is living practically retired, after many years of earnest and honorable endeavor. He is well known and highly esteemed in the county that has long been his home and is a man of sterling character.

Reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm, Dr. Eckhart waxed strong in mental and physical powers and as a youth his ambition was quickened to definite action. After completing the curriculum of the public schools, including that of the high school at Colburn, in his native county, he took an academic course in Valparaiso University, at Valparaiso, this state, and in preparation for the work and responsibilities of his exacting profession he entered the celebrated and historic old Jefferson Medical College, in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In this institution he applied himself with characteristic energy and appreciation and he was graduated as a member of the class of 1907, receiving at the time his we1l earned degree of doctor of medicine. He spared neither time nor effort in fortifying himself fully for his humane vocation, and while in Jefferson Medical College he gained excellent clinical experience in the hospital connected with the institution, as did he also in the Philadelphia Lying-in Hospital and in the Atlantic City General Hospital, in which he served for a time as intern.

In July, 1908, Dr. Eckhart established his residence in the city of Marion, capital of Grant county, Indiana, and here he has been continuously engaged in the practice of his profession, in which his success has been of unequivocal order. He built up a substantial general practice, but since the 1st of January, 1912, he has confined his practice to surgery, of which branch he is one of the most authoritative and successful representatives in the county at the present time. He is a close student of his profession and through recourse to the best of its standard and periodical literature he keeps in close touch with advances made in both medical and surgical science. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the Indiana State Medical Society, the Grant County Medical Society, and the District Medical Society of the Eleventh congressional district, of which last mentioned he is serving as counselor at the time of this writing, in 1913. In politics, though never a seeker of official preferment, he accords allegiance to the Republican party, and he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias. His church relations are with the Methodist Episcopal church.

The 11th of October, 1910, stands as the date which recorded the marriage of Dr. Eckhart to Miss Esther Strange, daughter of Hon. John W. Strange, of Marion, who has represented this district in the state senate. Dr. and Mrs. Eckhart are popular and valued factors in the representative social activities of their home city. They have no children.

Deb Murray