Blackford County Biography Ref. Page

DAVID SNEAD JAMES. The year 1914 is the century milestone for the immediate ancestry of David S. James in Indiana. The North Carolina family of that name moved to Randolph county, Indiana, in 1814, soon after the smoke of the battle of the Mississinewa had cleared away, opening up the great northwest territory for occupation by the whites. The James family lived in Randolph county until the year "the stars fell," and in 1833 emigrated to Grant county. However, the James family "hoosier schoolmaster" was in Grant county two years before local civil government was established. Mr. David S. James has been the continuous president of the James family organization since its first meeting in 1904. Mr. C. S. James is genealogist and historian of the family, and the family tree is perhaps the most perfect of any in Grant county. The fifth generation of the James children may readily trace their ancestry to the family that gave to Grant county its first school master, William James. Concerning William James some interesting comment will be found in the first volume of this history. The permanent settlement of the family in 1833 was made near Deer Creek, on land that had been entered by a son of John and Mary (Snead) James. Among the children of John and Mary James was Henley James, who in turn was the father of David S. James.

When Henley and Sarah (Holman) James were married on November 26, 1840, they started housekeeping on Lugar Creek, three miles east of the Grant county courthouse, where the family lived for many years, and that place will always be known as the James family homestead. Henley James was a progressive, unusually active farmer and citizen, and there is mention of him in the chapter on Civil Government in this work. During war times he represented Grant county in the Indiana legislature, being elected in 1833, and again in 1865. He was one of the thirty-nine members of the legislature who remained loyal to Indiana's war governor, Oliver P. Morton, and who adjourned the session in Indianapolis, where southern influence was being exerted, and continued the session in Madison. Henley James was a man who had the courage of his convictions relative to the conduct of the war. While others of the original family lived temporarily in Grant county and while the family furnished Grant county's first schoolmaster, it was Henley James who became identified with the community and reared a family here. Henley James died January 8, 1886, and his wife passed away October 3, 1896. Of that generation, and surviving both Henley and wife, was Miss Rachel James, who died in this county in 1905. Miss James was an original member of the Octogenarian Club, and although always an invalid, few people were ever endowed with stronger intellect and she remained young in thought and always abreast of the times, commending and condemning twentieth century customs. At her death the James family missed something�it was like the family clock had stopped, as "Aunt Rachel" had always been reckoned with in everything. She had been baptized in the Mississinewa River at Washington Street in 1840, before the stream was spanned with a bridge. When the gas and oil development came to her community, she decried the Continental Sabbath, saying she believed the first day of the week was when man should rest from his labors. Miss James was the last of her family, and in her the "schoolmaster" still lived�her influence was for the right in all things.

The entire James family was endowed with strong characteristics, and though its members have possessed positive natures, they have all been inclined to reading and enlightment, and the present generation are students of all the problems of the day.

Henley James died at sixty-eight, and his wife at seventy-two. Both have led active lives, and they left a family that is still known in the community. Their first child, William, died in infancy. The second, David Snead James, says that a man born September 24, 1843, has crossed the dead line�threescore and ten years, the allotted span of most Grant county citizens,�but he still retains an abiding interest in things and expects to be a vital part of life in this county for some years to come. The children who followed him in birth are as follows: Emily J., who married Joel Davis; Mrs. Mary J. Snodgrass, wife of Doctor D. B. Snodgrass; Solomon H. James, who married Louisa Byrd; George James, who married Belle Carll; Mrs. Lydia J. Byrd, wife of J. L. Byrd; Mrs. Laura J. Winchell, wife of George B. Winchell; and Mrs. Alice J. Cowgill-Walsh, whose first husband was O. C. Cowgill and her second Max Walsh. On June 7, 1866, at the Hays family homestead in Van Buren township, David S. James married Weimer Hays, daughter of William and Sarah (Nickum) Hays. Most of their married life has been spent in that neighborhood in which they were married, and Mr. James has passed every one of his birthdays in Grant county. The Hays family likewise were among the early settlers of this county. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. James have been born children as follows: Charles S. James, who married first Docia S. Davis, and second Laura Stephenson, and the one child, of the second marriage, is Miss Ruth James; Miss Mary S. James died in young womanhood; Harvey H. James, who married Mary Pearson, has two children, by that marriage, Ethel and Earl James, and by his marriage to Lena Sloderbeck, has another daughter, Miss Mary James; George N. James; Mrs. Roselle J. Troyer, wife of Charles Troyer, and their children are Paul and Jennie Troyer; John A. James, who married Nellie Leaverton, and their two children are Clyde and Russell James; Joseph H. James has been twice married, first to Caroline Brown, and second to Mamie Clouser.

Members of the James family were among the early adherents of the Deciples (Christian church), and D. S. James holds a membership with the Central Christian Church in Marion. While the early James family were Democrats, the Lincoln brand of Republicanism actuates the later members. Recently Mr. James lined up with the Progressive cause, and declared he has his ear to the ground, ready for the advance movement which he regards as best for himself and the country. In concluding this brief family sketch we shall refer briefly to a local landmark, whose history should not be forgotten and which has a number of associations with the James family. Many years ago was held a Sunday School picnic in the woods on the Hays farm, part of which is now the D. S. James place. The meeting place was in Van Buren township at the corner of four townships, Van Buren, Monroe, Center, and Washington�and as it was a union Sunday school picnic, the place was thereafter called Union Grove. The next point in the story was the establishment of a star route postoffice, which received the name of Union Grove. However, the postoffice was shifted from one farmhouse to another, and carrying the title Union Grove to each separate place, until the last locality to bear that name was at a considerable distance from the one in which the above mentioned picnic was held. There is a fine oak grove about the James homestead, and were it not for the fact that the name Union Grove has thus become common speculating property, it might well designate this particular farm.

"BLACKFORD AND GRANT COUNTIES INDIANA, A CHRONICLE OF THEIR PEOPLE PAST AND PRESENT WITH FAMILY LINEAGE AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS"; Complied Under the Editorial Supervision of BENJAMIN G. SHINN; vol. II ; THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY; CHICAGO AND NEW YORK; 1914
Submitted by:Peggy Karol and Karen Overholt

WILLIAM E. MASON. One of the fine farms in Grant county is the property of William E. Mason, of Mill township, comprising one hundred and eighty three acres of rich and valuable land in section 12 and known as "The Glencoe Farm." The owner is accounted one of the most progressive and practical agriculturists of his township; he uses the latest improved machinery in the cultivation of his property; studies the best methods for producing the various cereals adapted to the climate; practices rotation of crops; devotes a great deal of attention to the raising of all kinds of thoroughbred livestock; and, above all, brings to his work that unflagging industry which seldom fails of accomplishment. It is this factor that has brought him a full measure of success and gained him a place among the well-to-do farmers of his community.

Mr. Mason is a worthy representative of one of the pioneer families of the state, the name having been interwoven with the development and advancement here through several generations. The family in the United States originated in the Pennsylvania Dutch section of the Keystone state, but John Mason, the paternal grandfather of William E. Mason, was born in Virginia, and the grandmother, Miss Crull, was probably a native of Kentucky, in which state the family lived for several years and where Michael Mason, the father of William E. Mason, was born October 15, 1827. Shortly after this event the family came to Wayne county, Indiana, entering land and improving a farm, which was subsequently sold when the Masons moved to Miami county. There they located on a property that was partly improved, and John Mason continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits and working at the cooper's trade, of which he was a master, until the time of his death, at the age of eighty-four years, the grandmother passing away at about the same age several years later. They were faithful members of the old Dunkard church, and were the parents of the following children: Samuel, David, Jacob, John, Jr., Michael, William, Daniel, George, Elizabeth, Mary Magdalena, Hannah, Katharine Sarah, and Lucinda. All grew to man and womanhood, all married, and George and Daniel are still living.

Michael Mason was an infant when brought to Indiana by his parents, and here he was reared to the cooper's trade by his father. He also made and mended shoes for his family, and his wife spun and wove cloth that dressed the family, also spun wool from the sheep raised on the farm to be made into blankets. Michael Mason was also a good farmer, and as a young man he came to Grant county and settled on a farm in Mill township, the place being now owned and occupied by William E. Mason. Subsequently he moved to a farm in Franklin township, there remaining until 1879, when he returned to the Mill township property on which he had first settled, and there his death occurred on the 18th of October, 1880. His wife survived him until the 12th of August, 1907. During the Civil war Michael Mason enlisted in Company C, Twelfth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and as a private participated in a number of engagements, but after about a year of service was taken ill and was finally honorably discharged on account of disability.

Mr. Mason was married in Mill township to Miss Anna Coleman, who was born in Belmont county, Ohio, July 1, 1827, and came to Grant county with her parents in 1829. When Thomas Coleman, her father, came here he established one of the first six families in the county, traveling a tedious route over the roads from Ohio until he struck Granville, Indiana, on the Mississinewa river. There he sold his wagon and loaded what goods he had, with others that he had purchased, onto a flatboat and came down that river until he reached the site of his future home, on the banks of the stream in Mill township. The country was almost in its virgin state, wild and forbidding, with numerous savage Indians and many wild animals, and when he had settled in his little log hut Mr. Coleman kept his fierce dog underneath the structure to warn him of the approach of red men or the beasts of the forest. His nearest market, Granville, lay in a direction that was inaccessible for his wagon, arid in order to take his grain to that point it was necessary for him to send his son ahead leading the team of horses, one in front of the other, to break the path for him along the old Indian trail, each journey being fraught with the utmost danger. Sturdily this brave pioneer worked, each year making some improvements to his land and equipment, and gradually he saw the land around him develop into one of the garden spots of the state. His original tract of one hundred and five acres, in section 12, was put under cultivation, and he then entered forty acres more, and as the years passed continued to buy more property until he became one of the most substantial men of his community. This farm is now the homestead of William E. Mason. He also rose high in public esteem and served some time as a county commissioner and in other offices of public trust and responsibility. His death occurred May 1, 1871, when he was seventy-three years of age. His first wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Bates, died some years before, when fifty-four years of age, and he married for his second wife a Mrs. Carter. Mrs. Mason, the mother of William E. Mason, was one of six children by the first union, all of whom are deceased except one, Mrs. Mary Heal, of Mill township.

To Michael and Anna (Coleman) Mason there were born the following children: Daniel, who died at the age of two years; Mary E., who died when twenty-one years of age; John, who died in the spring of 1913, having had seven children, of whom five are living; James, who died at the age of twenty four years, unmarried; Mahala, who died when two years old; Samantha Florence, the wife of James H. Kirkpatrick, of Fairmount township; Ida, widow of Leander Parks, and she resides in Jonesboro, the mother of three sons and one daughter; and George, who died when an infant. Michael Mason was one of the sturdy figures of his day and well merited the high esteem in which he was universally held. His long life was one of usefulness, and he will long be remembered among the honored men who did so much to advance the interests of his section.

William E. Mason was born in Franklin township, Grant county, Indiana, March 17, 1862, and in that vicinity grew to young manhood and secured his educational training in the public schools. At the age of seventeen years he came to the farm which he now owns, with his parents, who had formerly lived thereon but who had spent some twenty years or more in Franklin township. Mr. Mason has continued to make this property his home, and at this time is the owner of the one hundred and forty-five acres, which was entered by his grandfather Coleman. He has since added thirty-seven and one-half acres more to this farm making him 183 acres in all. This is one of the best farms in Mill township, and has been made so by Mr. Mason's industry, perseverance and well applied effort. His large white house, red barn, seventy-ton silo and substantial outbuildings are surrounded by well tilled fields, and in the pasture land are found great numbers of Short Horn cattle and Shropshire sheep, sleek, well-fed and contented. Another specialty may be found in Mr. Mason's Poland China swine, some of the best in the township. The equipment on this homestead is of the most modern manufacture, and the general air of prosperity which hovers over the entire property bespeaks the presence of thrift, progressiveness and excellent management.

Mr. Mason was married in Fairmount township to Miss Rebecca A. Marine, who was born in Jefferson township, Grant county, Indiana, December 10, 1868, a daughter of Nathan and Rebecca (Nelson) Marine, the former deceased and the latter now a resident of Gas City, Indiana. A complete review of this family will be found in the sketch of Daniel Marine an uncle of Mrs. Mason, in another part of this work. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mason: Earl J., connected with the Canton Glass Company at Marion, was educated in the Indiana Business College and is single; Flossie M., the wife of George Ice, of Jennings county, Indiana, and the mother of one child, Velma; Ethel May, who graduated August 13, 1913, from the Normal Institute at Muncie, Indiana, is now a teacher of elocution in the same school, with a very promising outlook; Chester and Charles, living at home with their parents, and both now in the third year of the high school at Gas City, Indiana; and Alice, the first born, who died when but one week old. Mr. and Mrs. Mason are consistent members of the Methodist Protestant church, in the faith of which they have reared their children. Mr. Mason is a Democrat. His business methods are ever honorable and straightforward, and his close application, perseverance and unabating energy have enabled him to work his way steadily upward, and onward to a position of affluence and high esteem. His home is his castle, and he is never so happy as when surrounded by his family. In his comfortable residence he has numerous relics of pioneer days, and among the most interesting and valued of these are the rifles which belonged to his great-grandfather and grandfather, the latter of which in the days of its usefulness killed probably one hundred deer in Grant county, a meat that in the early day largely provided the family with food. He also has his great-grandfather Coleman's Bible, bearing dates that were written in the year 1786, which he highly prizes.

ELMER E. HEAL. One of the oldest families in this section of Indiana is that of Heal, which was established in Delaware county before the close of the decade of the twenties. It has numerous representatives in both Delaware and Grant county, and where ever known the name has been associated with industry, with intelligent citizenship, and with influences working for progress in morals and religion. Mr. Elmer E. Heal is one of the prosperous farmers in the southeastern corner of Mill township, his homestead being in section one. Mr. Heal has been honored with official place in the community, and is one of the best known residents of his township.

Mr. Heal refers in a somewhat humorous way to the founding of his family in this country. Many years ago, it seems, not long after the Revolutionary war there landed on the coast of Maine at Bath, David Heal. He was probably not blessed with a great amount of worldly goods, or the wisdom of a Solomon but if the multiplicity of offspring be taken as a basis of judgment, he ranked second only to Father Adam as the father of the human race. It appears he came from Cheshire, England, on one of the slow-going sail vessels of the time, and must have been many weeks on the way. He was a laboring man and found employment in felling trees in the great forest that then existed in Maine and in running logs down the Kennebeck River. He probably spent all the rest of his life in the Pine Tree State, but lack of information prevents a further account of his activities.

Of his numerous progeny was William Heal, born in Maine, October 29, 1791. When a small boy he was bound out to a man named Fletcher, and served his master faithfully until he was twenty-one years of age. He enlisted in the army and served during the war, of 1812. He then shouldered his ax and started through the wilderness to what is now Guernsey county, Ohio. There as a log cabin pioneer he entered land and started to establish a home of his own. His settlement there was evidently in the early part of 1814, and Ohio had been a state only about ten years. In Muskingum county, Ohio, December 24, 1818, he married Olive Carter. The record states that she was born in Maine, October 18, 1799, but just at what time she came to Ohio is not known. William Heal possessed all the spirit of the frontiersman, and the western fever had not abated in his breast when in 1829, with his wife and a small family, and with all their worldly possessions piled onto a wagon, he came to Delaware county, Indiana, and settled in Washington township. There he began the fight with the wilderness again, and got a tract of land direct from the government. His efforts were rewarded by establishing a good home and rearing a fine family, who with their descendants became prominent agriculturists throughout this section of the state. William Heal died at the home which his ax had hewed from the wilderness on April 16, 1847. His wife passed away at the same place December 19, 1844. They were people whose lives could not help but benefit any community in which they lived. They were early Methodists, and took a prominent part in the founding of Olive Branch Methodist church in Jefferson township of Grant county, that church being named in honor of Mrs. Olive Heal. It was their support and efforts in a material and spiritual way that did much to make a success of the society, and their home was always open to ministers of the faith, and to all strangers as well as to friends, their latch strings always hung on the outside. William Heal was a Whig of the Henry Clay type. Of the children of William Heal and wife, James M., father of Elmer was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, not far from Zanesville, July 20, 1828.

He was carried as a baby in arms by his mother and father to Delaware county where he grew up a healthy and intelligent boy, and was able to take his share in the clearing and improving of the farm. As a young man he acquired the trade of carpenter, and became a skillful workman and operated independently as a contractor, erecting a great many homes and farm buildings in Grant county. Some of these structures are still standing, a monument to his efforts. All his life he lived on a farm, the chief management of which, however, developed upon his wife and sons. That old homestead was in Mill township, and he died there April 19, 1886. On April 25, 1855, James M. Heal married Mary Coleman, who is still hale and hearty, and at a good old age resides with her son Elmer E. most of the time. She is well informed on all current views and is intellectually and physically active. She was born in Mill township, a daughter of Thomas and Mary Coleman who were among the first settlers on the Mississinewa River in that township, where they lived until death. They were the parents of nine children: John C.; Mary Olive; Thomas J.; Elmer E.; Frank L.; William L.; Annie C.; James E.; and infant daughter. The Coleman family is described elsewhere in this volume, in the sketch of William E. Mason. Mrs. James M. Heal is a very active member of the Methodist church, and her husband, though a constant attendant, never made a confession of faith. He was one of the sturdiest Republicans in Grant county, and nothing could ever alter his devotion to the grand old party. This brings the family history down to Mr. Elmer E. Heal. He was born on the old farm in Jefferson township where the family sojourned for sometime, February 6, 1862. His book training was mixed with hard work on the farm, and the fact that he now possesses a well trained mind and is accounted an unusually intelligent citizen, is perhaps due chiefly to his study at home and hard thinking on many subjects outside the immediate sphere of his activity. Early in life he qualified as an educator, and for fifteen years devoted his time to teaching during the winter, while he farmed in summer. He made for himself an excellent reputation as a teacher of the young, and a great many of his old pupils still remember his guidance gratefully. Mr. Heal has a first class small farm of forty-three acres, and by his success has shown that a man with a small farm can reap an excellent living and put away money for his declining years on a farm of this size. His place is located in the southeast corner of Mill township, which has long been noted for the extreme richness of its soil.

His practical knowledge of affairs and his qualifications in the simpler legal forms made him the choice of the people for the office of justice of the peace for some years. Mr. Heal is a decided Republican, but has no aspirations to be considered a politician. His present farm has been his place of residence for the past twenty-four years, and in that time he has taken a part in all the community activities. He is especially well known in fraternal circles, being a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Jonesboro, and has represented his lodge in the Grand Lodge, and also belongs to the Encampment Degree. He is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias at Gas City and belongs to the Loyal Order of Moose at Marion.

In Mill township on December 24, 1883, Mr. Heal married Miss Clara Moreland, who was born in this township in 1866, and has always made it her home. Her parents were E. J. and Levenia (Winans) Moreland, both of whom were born in Miami county, Ohio, and early came to Grant county, and were married in Mill township. Mr. Moreland died April 2, 1910, having been born February 8, 1831, and his wife, who was born September 12, 1840, passed away June 22, 1913. The Moreland family have always been Methodists, and Mr. Moreland was a staunch Republican. Mrs. Heal had a brother, Marquis A., who died December 7, 1911, and for many years was connected as agent and messenger with the Big Four Railway Company, and afterwards was a real estate man; he was married but had no children. The four children of Mr. and Mrs. Heal are: Glenny Maude, who died in childhood; Flossie May, David E. and William Donald. Flossie May was educated in the grade and high schools, is the wife of Jesse C. Knopp of Elwood, and has two children Clara A. and Chester E. David E. and William Donald are both bright young boys and attending the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Heal and family worship in the Methodist church.

Deb Murray