Blackford County Biography Ref. Page

A. WILMONT BRELSFORD. A resident of Grant county for more than sixty years, Mr. Brelsford has followed farming in Mill township for the greater portion of this time, and his home on section one is a fine farm which has all the outward appearances of thrift and prosperity, and those who are acquainted with the enterprise of Mr. Brelsford testify as to his substantial success as a farmer, and his usefulness as a citizen.

A. Wilmont Brelsford was born in Greene county, Ohio, September 11, 1848. He was three years of age when he came to Grant county, in 1851. His parents were Thomas and Lydia Ann (Mann) Brelsford, both natives of Green county, Ohio. The father was Irish and the mother English in ancestry. They were married in Green county, and in 1838 came to Grant county, locating in Center township, where Thomas Brelsford started to make a new home with his wife and small family of children. Early in life he had acquired the trade of carpenter, and it was in that capacity that he was first known in Grant county. Some of the early homes in and about Marion were built by this skilled artisan and some of them still stand to testify to the substantial industry of the builder. Later he bought a farm in Liberty township, and about the time the war broke out sold that place and located in Mill township near Gas City. Finally in 1880, having sold his interests in Grant county, he moved to Jackson, Michigan, where he resumed his work as a carpenter, and lived there until his death. He was nearly fourscore when he passed away, while his wife was sixty-eight years of age. Besides his industrious career as a farmer and carpenter, he worked as a lay preacher in the Methodist church. There were three sons and four daughters, five of whom are still living and are married and have children of their own.

A. Wilmont Brelsford grew up in Grant county, spending most of his boyhood on a farm, and with a common school education. Having been reared on a farm he chose that vocation, and has followed it successfully for more than forty years. His home has been on his present place in section one of Mill township since 1877.

Mr. Brelsford was married in Jonesboro, September 11, 1875, to Miss Jennie Wiley. She was born on the farm which she and her husband now occupy in Mill township, June 4, 1856, and was reared and educated in this county. She is a woman of superior character and has proved an excellent wife and mother, and the success of Mr. Brelsford in no small degree may be credited to his wife's capable efforts in cooperating with him. The children born to their marriage are mentioned as follows: Leota B., who is the mother of five children, is the widow of the late Guy Heath, who was accidentally killed on the Pennsylvania Railway, June 9, 1913; Arlie F. lives in Forsyth, Montana, and has one son; Alvary T. died at the age of six months; Alvin R. is a bookkeeper with the Tin Plate Company at Gary, Indiana, and is unmarried; Garr is at home with his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Brelsford and family are Methodists in religion, and in politics he votes the Progressive ticket.

"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

JOE KLAUS. When Joseph Clouse, who has just closed his relations with Grant county as its recorder, left his native heath in Germany in 1853, he adopted the English spelling of the German name, making it Clouse, and coming to Marion in 1860 from Lima, Ohio, where he and a brother, Philip Klaus, had lived, he established the Clause Carriage Works. Now that he has retired from industrial pursuits the son who bears his name continues the business established so long ago, but the son has returned to the original and German spelling of the name, Klaus. When it came to the matter of writing his personal checks Joseph Clause, Jr., became Joe Klaus, and the Clouse Carriage Works is now indeed the Klaus establishment.

When the father left his native place in Germany he was a devout Catholic, but when he married Anna Maria, a daughter of Jacob and Anna Maria (Snyder) Smith, September 17, 1862, he went the way of his wife in religious matters, and they reared their children in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church. Afterward, however, he reverted to the faith of his childhood�the religion of the family in Germany. His brother, Philip Klaus, of Lima, Ohio, continued the original spelling of the name and the religion, and three brothers and two sisters in the Fatherland are all Catholics. Mr. Clouse has one daughter who adopted his faith. In the business directory of Marion Clouse and Klaus designate one and the same family, the differing versions indicating the German and English forms of the name. Joe Klaus, however, has been the only member of the family to adopt the German form, and while many people designate him Clouse, his signature gives the original spelling of Klaus.

While Joseph Clouse is a German, his children have never seen his relatives across the water. They seemed blessed with longevity, and counting his brother at Lima, Ohio, and the three brothers and two sisters in the Fatherland, there are seven in the family.

There were twelve children in the Smith family of which Mrs. Clouse is a member. Her father, Jacob Smith, came from Pennsylvania to Grant county in 1837, and he had much to do with the early history of Marion. Mention is made elsewhere of the lime kiln over the "forty foot-pitch" operated by Jacob Smith. He opened the S. R. Fankboner farm beyond the "forty-foot-pitch" on the Wabash Pike, and there is another substantial, old time brick residence at the corner of Western avenue and Second street, Marion, once a farm house but now in the center of a prosperous business community, and the name of Jacob Smith is still remembered by many of the older residents. Adam Smith, the eldest son, disappeared soon after his return from the Civil war and was never seen again. Mrs. Frances Parks, Mrs. Catherine Webb, Mrs. Mary Zent, Joseph Smith and Mrs. Clara Osborn are his children who married. John Smith died in the army, and Henry, Jacob, David and Daniel died in early life.

The home of the Clouse family has always been in Marion, and the children born to Joseph and Anna Maria (Smith) Clouse are all married and in homes of their own. All of them bear family names in either the original Klaus or the Smith family.

Joe Klaus, the eldest son, is now the proprietor of the Klaus manufacturing and repair establishment. He married Carrie Carle, a daughter of John Carle, who will be remembered as a salesman in Marion stores, his last place of employment being with Goldthait & Sons. The family came from Baltimore to Marion, and besides Mrs. Klaus there were a son Edward, and five daughters, named as follows: Mrs. Mary Williams, Mrs. Alverta Pfeiffer, Mrs. Laura Ragan, Mrs. Sallis Fleming and Mrs. Maggie Berry. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Klaus occurred July 10, 1884, and the two children born of their union are Alverta and Philip Carle Klaus. The daughter died at the age of nineteen, and the son is associated with his father in business. He is an expert mechanic, and able to work at any task the shop may offer, either on wagons, carriages or automobiles, and there is usually some repair work in the shop that requires careful attention. Mrs. Carrie Klaus died on the 7th of May, 1893. Mr. Klaus was again married, November 29, 1898, to Miss Beatrice M. Morgan, who was born in a suburb of London, England, although prior to her marriage she had lived in or near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. She has several times crossed the Atlantic, and on a journey to England in 1912 she continued on to Germany, where she visited her uncles, Peter, Adam and John, and aunts, Catherine and Clara, who welcomed her gladly as the daughter of a brother whom they had not seen since he left home to seek his fortune in a new world. She found them cordial and hearty German folk, all of whom sent special invitations to their brothers in America to visit the old home again. All of them live in a small village, owning adjoining farm lands.

Mr. Klaus has a brother, John Clouse, who is a mechanic in the shop, and who married Miss Maude Beatty. He has four children: John Merrit, James Robert, Cassandra and Helen Louise. His sister, Mary, became the wife of C. C. Kinley, and she had two children, Forest Clouse Kinley and Mary Gertrude Kinley. Mrs. Kinley died at Summittville. Another sister, Adeline, is the wife of W. F. Gerrard. Catherine married J. A. Brown and Anna Gertrude is the wife of J. C. Woomer. She has one child, Anna Maria, named for her paternal grandmother.

Joseph Clouse served his adopted country in the Civil war, and he tells the story himself in the chapter entitled "Grant County in the Wars." His name occurs again in the chapter on Civil Government, and in the county there are none to be found who will question his honesty in politics. Although well past the need for business activity, he is not one to sit idly by, and he always finds something to do in the way of looking after property interests, so that though a retired man he is a busy one. The family is an excellent example of the immigrant becoming the citizen, and the Clouse-Klaus family history is now a part of the annals of Grant county. The political ties of Mr. Clouse, Sr., have always been Republican, one of the most staunch, dyed-in-the wool kind. Mr. Klaus, Jr., naturally followed the father in his political life, until the Progressive party made its appearance, to which he then connected himself. The city campaign in the fall of 1913 found him quite active, serving as treasurer of the organization, and by the persistent work of the party they elected their candidate for Mayor, Mr. J. O. Batchelor.

HON. BERNARD B. SHIVELY. Of the prominent members of the state senate of Indiana, none has won the admiration and respect of the people of the state more than Senator Bernard B. Shively, of Marion, Indiana. A lawyer of a wide reputation, Senator Shively was well known before he entered the senate and his activity in furthering, not only the interests of the people of his district, but also of the people of the entire state has made him a figure of prominence and the abhorred of the grafters and boodlers, whom he has steadily fought since his entry into the legislative body. Senator Shively is a business man as well as a politician and lawyer and he sees that this country's great need goes deeper than laws, that the health and moral well being of the people is of the first consideration. In short Senator Shively is of that modern type of man with a trained mind who is able to apply the economic principles that he has learned in a practical way, and in whom lies the hope of the country today.

Bernard B. Shively was born in the city of Marion on the 5th day of November, 1881, and is the son of Dr. Marshall T. Shively and Zamora (Bobbs) Shively, both of whom are natives of Marion, and who are mentioned at greater length elsewhere in this volume. Bernard Shively came of a race who had always been men of education and learning and consequently he was early sent to school. After completing the work of the grammar and high schools in Marion he attended the Marion Normal School and then entered Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia, remaining there for three years.

After leaving college he, in company with his brother, became the publisher of the Inter-State magazine, being thus engaged for two years. He next became interested in the manufacturing business, but after a year and a half of this work he determined to study law and so sold the business. He entered the law office of Judge Hiram Brownlee, of Marion, and here he studied for a year. He next read law with Senator John T. Strange, of Marion, and was admitted to the bar and began to practice in the early part of 1910. Although he remained in the office of Senator Strange yet he practiced alone. He enjoyed a very fair practice from the beginning and it grew rapidly. He values highly his experience in the business world and the broadness of his education and experience for he believes in getting down to fundamentals and ignoring the minute technicalities of the law in so far as it is possible to do so. He is broad-minded and practical, and a man whom business men liked to retain because he could meet them on their own grounds and understood the commercial side of a problem as well as the legal.

Senator Shively has always taken an active part in politics and as a member of the Democratic party has been a prominent factor in state politics in Indiana. He was nominated in June, 1910, for joint senator for Grant, Wells and Blackford counties. The convention met in Hartford City and Senator Shively was nominated over a number of prominent men who were his opponents. He was elected in the fall election of 1910, by a plurality of four hundred and ninety-nine, in a district that is normally Republican, a strong proof of his qualities as a man rather than as a party-man.

In January, 1911, Senator Shively took his seat in the Sixty-seventh General Assembly of Indiana for a four years' term. During this session he introduced the first recall bill that had ever been introduced in an Indiana legislature. This bill, and the referendum bill which he helped to draft, were defeated, the conservative element being too strong for this progressive move. Senator Shively assisted in obtaining the passage of the child labor bill, one of the most necessary bills to the welfare of the state that was introduced during this session. His most noteworthy work, however, was the block signal bill, which is now a law. This bill was fathered by the Senator at the request of the Railroad Commission and he fought long and hard to secure its passage. This statute requires block signals for all steam and electric railroads. It has necessitated the investment of more than a million dollars in signals by the railroads and was bitterly opposed by the combined forces of the steam and electric lines. For once, however, money could not prevail against right and Senator Shively triumphed. Needless to say the law has saved many lives and prevented numbers of accidents.

In the campaign of 1912 Senator Shively stumped the state of Indiana under the auspices of the state committee and for the first time in twenty-five years Grant county entered the Democratic column.

During the session of 1913, Senator Shively was again active in his fight for better social conditions. He was the author and champion of the Shively Public Utilities Act, which is now a law and which is generally conceded to be one of the most far reaching and progressive pieces of legislation that has been enacted in Indiana in twenty-five years. This law provides a state commission having authority over all public utilities, including railroads, telephone and telegraph companies, heat, light and power and water companies. This commission has power to investigate bond issues and similar supervisory powers to the end that the public may be given adequate service at a fair rate. It is a great step forward in the advancement of the state and is only one of the many moves of this kind that should be made and that will be if Senator Shively and men of his type could successfully oppose the money interests.

It was in this session that the fraternal insurance bill came up and Senator Shively led the fight against it, for, in his opinion, this bill appeared to be a rate raising measure, backed by the old line companies. He also assisted in the fight for a nine-hour law, but this was a defeated measure. Coming from a family of three generations of physicians, he opposed the bill known as the Chiropractic bill, which would have abrogated the present requisites for practicing medicine in the state. He assisted in many other important legislations and was one of the most influential and prominent men in the senate, greatly admired even by his enemies for his clear mind and forceful speech, and for the independence with which he fought for his principles, regardless of the harm which it might be to him personally. He was chairman of the agricultural committee, and enjoyed the work of this committee very much, especially in their successful endeavor to pass the Serum bill, a measure which has been very beneficial to farmers. He was also a member of the judiciary committee, of the railroad committee, of the manufacturing committee, of that on cities and towns, and of a number of others.

In addition to his official and professional duties, Senator Shively is interested in business. He is general manager of the Railway Safety Device Company, manufacturers of an automatic safety device for steam and electric companies. He is unmarried and a man who has the best part of his life before him, for he is yet young and has only begun to show people what is in him. He has a brilliant future before him and it is a future founded on the solid basis of right principles and the best good of the people. Senator Shively is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is also a member of the college fraternity of Mu Pi Lambda, which merged with the Kappa Sigma, having been made a member at Washington and Lee. He is a member and stockholder of the Indiana Democratic Club of Indianapolis and belongs to the Country Club in Marion.

JEREMIAH W. TORRANCE. The name of Jeremiah has been handed down from one generation to another through the Stebbins family in the ancestry of the well known "Jerry" Torrance of the Davis Drug Store, his mother, Mrs. Alice Stebbins Torrance Kleder, being a daughter of the late Jeremiah Blackford Stebbins, an early day Marion merchant and a son of Jeremiah B. Stebbins, Sr., who lived on the Marion National Bank corner for many years in the days when Marion was yet a village.

Mr. Torrance is a son of Frank Wilson Torrance, who was a telegraph operator and belonged to a Wabash county family. His mother, later became the wife of George M. Kleder, who lived at Milford, in Kosciusko county, and one son, George M. Kleder, Jr., was born to them. Jeremiah W. Torrance was born in Marion, on April 19, 1862, and it should be said that he is descended through his mother from two of the earliest pioneer families in Grant county,�those of Stebbins and Griffin. The children of Jeremiah B. and Catherine (Shearer) Stebbins were as follows: Phoebe and Rosanna, twins; Phoebe died in childhood and the other became Mrs. Horton; Mrs. Mary S. Webb; Mrs. Catherine S. Thomason-Navens; Elijah Stebbins; Jeremiah B. Stebbins, Jr.; George W. Stebbins and Mrs. Frances S. Ward.

On the Griffin side Mr. Torrance is descended from Robert, who was one of a family of three, the others being Martin Griffin and Mrs. Jane Overman. Robert Griffin raised a family of ten children, all of whom married and had families. The children of Robert and Eleanor (Mines) Griffin were: Mrs. Malinda G. Stebbins-Davis; James Griffin, Sr.; Mrs. Jane G. Jackson; Mrs. Susannah G. Stebbins; John Griffin; Sarah E. G. Stebbins; Ruth G. Wigger Gall; Lucinda G. Wolf; Lydia M. G. Parks and Viola G. Phillips. The Stebbins and Griffin families were close friends and the three sons in the Stebbins family all found wives among the daughters in the Griffin family,�the wives surviving their husbands in each instance.

Through his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, the latter being Mrs. Eleanor Hines Griffin, whose mother was Rachel Branson, Mr. Torrance is descended from the Branson family, of Boots and Branson fame in the early history of the community. The Branson monument on Cemetery Boulevard is at the grave of an ancestor.

When the Stebbins-Griffin houses were growing up in this part of the state, times were decidedly different from now, as the surviving members will not be slow to tell you, should you inquire of them regarding the past. They were of the Newlite and Methodist religion, for the most part, and the Democracy manifested by these pioneer families was of the deepest dye. Theirs was a full and worthy part in the development of Grant county. The Griffins first settled near Lake Galatia, but they found the land too low and wet for them and they accordingly crossed the Mississinewa river, where they took up a three hundred acre farm that is still owned by the heirs of Robert Griffin. It is a landmark of the county, the old fashioned frame dwelling being easily seen from the windows of the trains of the Pennsylvania Lines, which runs through a forty acre gravel pit that was at one time the property of the Griffins and a part of their farm, but which they later sold to the railroad company. This place is just opposite the National Military Home of Indiana, and is an attractive and valuable piece of agricultural property.

When J. B. Stebbins, Sr., was a Marion tailor, he, like many another of the business men of the community, enjoyed the confidence and friendship of the Miami Indians, and for many years he made all the garments worn by Chief Meshingomesia. Several members of the Griffin family still live in this community. Mrs. Frances Stebbins Ward is the last of her generation in the family. Of the Griffin family, Mrs. Malinda G. S. Davis, the eldest of the family, was born on April 12, 1835, and she has always lived hereabouts. She was an active business woman for many years, and after the death of her first husband, J. B. Stebbins, Jr., she married John Davis, the pioneer Marion druggist. The name of John Davis is perpetuated in the business he established in Marion as early as 1866,�the Davis Drug Store, of which Jeremiah W. Torrance of this review is a member. Mr. Davis had a drug store there and next to him was the millinery shop long operated by Mrs. Davis, and it is not too much to say that they enjoyed the unlimited confidence of the public in both enterprises, having a splendid patronage. In 1903 Mr. Davis died after a long and useful career in the community, and soon after Mr. George M. Kleder came to Marion and associated himself in business with J. W. Torrance, and they have since continued. Mr. Torrance, it should be stated, is the grandson of Mrs. Malinda Davis, and she is the owner of the building in which the Davis Drug Store is conducted, the property having long been in the family. The drug store, under the direction of Mr. Kleder and Mr. Torrance, carries out the policies inaugurated and long put into practice by the founder of the business, John Davis and the concern continues to enjoy the same liberal patronage that was accorded to it in the days when its original owner was at its head.

Mr. Torrance is one of the active and progressive men of the city, and he enjoys a pleasing prominence and popularity in the community that has always known him. He married, on June 6, 1905, Miss Lucile Bryson, a daughter of Jefferson and Frances Samantha (Rice) Bryson, and one daughter has been born to them,�Pauline Torrance.

ROBERT BRINKER. The qualities of thrift, perseverance and industry have ever been characteristics of the German race. The citizens of the Fatherland are rarely found in want, for their sturdy nature and self-reliance can be counted upon to place them among the independent people of any community in which they find themselves, and for this reason this country owes a debt of gratitude for some of its best citizenship. Among the honored German names of Grant county is that of Brinker, which is represented in Center township by Robert Brinker, who, while not a native of Germany, has inherited the qualities which have made this race famous the world over. Mr. Brinker, who is now carrying on agricultural operations on a farm within sight of the city of Marion, Indiana, was born in Washington township, Grant county, Indiana, December 20, 1877, and is a son of William and Catherine (Schuelmeyer) Brinker.

The parents of Mr. Brinker were both born in the Fatherland, and emigrated as children to the United States, being reared and educated in Indianapolis, Indiana, where they became acquainted and were married. Subsequently they came to Washington township and here purchased a large tract of land, a part of which forms the farm on which was born Grant county's distinguished son, Col. George W. Steele. An industrious and thrifty citizen, Mr. Brinker accumulated a handsome property, and at the time of his death left his family in very comfortable circumstances. Although a busy man, with large interests, he ever had the welfare of his community at heart, and also did not fail to remember his moral duty, being a faithful member of the German Lutheran Church. He and his estimable wife were the parents of eight children, and of these Robert was the youngest.

Robert Brinker received his education in the city schools, and was reared to habits of honesty and industry, early learning the value of thrift and economy. As a result, at the time of his marriage, he was able to settle upon a property of his own, and at this time he is the owner of a tract of 110 acres, located within sight of the city of Marion, in Center township, a property that has been brought to a high state of cultivation through well-directed effort and able management. Mr. Brinker has devoted his activities to general farming and stock raising, along both of which lines he has been more than ordinarily successful, and he is justly considered one of the substantial men of his locality.

In November, 1907, Mr. Brinker was united in marriage with Miss Bessie Dibble, also a native of Grant county. They have had three children, sons, who died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Brinker are faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal church, which they attend at Marion. In political matters Mr. Brinker has always been affiliated with the Democratic party, but has never cared for public office and has only taken that interest in public matters that is shown by any citizen who has the welfare of his community at heart. He occupies a beautiful country home, surrounded by a wide lawn, and fitted with all the comforts and conveniences of modern farm life.

Deb Murray