REV. HARVEY T. WALKER. There has been no period in recorded history when the caring for the dead has not been a feature of even savage life and the ceremonies have been of a character that has been marked by the measure of civilization. A study of habits and customs of every nation will disclose that a reverence has been paid to the dead oftentimes such as has not been given to the living, and even the most uncivilized of savages can point to their burning temples, their stone crypts, their tree-top burials or their funeral barks. However, there has never been a time when the proper, dignified, sanitary conduct of funeral obsequies and disposal of the remains of those whose life work has ended has been so complete as at present. Embalmers and funeral directors of the present day in this -country are no longer mere mechanics, but, on the other hand, are carefully trained in this profession and are frequently graduates of more than one college. Rev. Harry T. Walker, of Montpelier, is a graduate of the Cincinnati College of Embalming, in which he holds a life scholarship and the chair of lecturer and demonstrator, a graduate of the Askins Training School of Embalming, of Indianapolis, hold Ohio license No. 1939 A, the highest in the state, and Indiana license No. 1550, both obtained through a most rigid examination, and is known as the "Consultee" all over this part of the state, as an expert in his chosen field.

Mr. Walker was born in Miami county, Indiana, September 26, 1884, and received his early education in the public schools, this being supplemented by courses in Amboy Academy and Taylor University, at Upland, Indiana. He was granted a local minister's license in the United Brethren church in 1904, his first charge being at Boyleston, Clinton county, Indiana, from whence he went to Lapel, Madison county, and in 1906 became a member of the White River United Brethren Conference. On completing his work at Lapel he came to Montpelier, where for three years he was pastor of the United Brethren church, and at the same time became the owner of his present business of undertaking, embalming and funeral directing on Main street. He has continued to fill a local pastorate, and is frequently called upon for lectures and talks at high schools and before other gatherings.

Mr. Walker comes of an old and honored Virginia family of Scotch-Irish stock, the first of the family of whom we have any record being his great-grandfather, William Walker, of West Virginia, a salt manufacturer during early days on the Kanawha river. He was a slaveholder, but freed his servants before the Civil War and came to Ohio, where he spent his last years, being buried within forty miles of Cincinnati. He married in West Virginia, Mary Stewart, of Scotch stock, who also died in Ohio, in the faith of the Dunkard church, of which her husband was also a member. They were the parents of four daughters and two sons. Of these, Elliott Walker, the grandfather of our subject, was the youngest. He was born in West Virginia in 1804, and was married to Lavina Williamson, by whom he had ten children, and (his second wife) to Anna Eckart, who bore him one son. He had accompanied his parents to Ohio in young manhood, and later moved to Madison county, Indiana, and still later to Miami county, Indiana, where his first wife died. He subsequently went to Marshall county, Indiana, and passed away on his farm near Plymouth, in 1894, at the age of ninety years, six months. His widow is still living, and is now eighty-nine years old, a member of the Episcopal church. Mr. Walker was a Dunkard and a republican, while his first wife was a member of the New Light Christian church. Of his children by his first wife there were seven sons and three daughters, and of these, Rev. William A., the father of Rev. Harry T., is the second in order of birth.

Rev. William A. Walker was born in Madison county, Indiana, October 22, 1842, and in youth learned the trade of carpenter. At the outbreak of the Civil War he offered his services to the Union cause, becoming a member of Company K, Thirty-fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he served ten months, and then contracted measles and was honorably discharged on account of disability. Later, he became a member of Company F, Sixteenth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and continued to serve therewith until the close of the war. Mr. Walker's service covered a period of three years and seventeen days, and through brave and meritorious service he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. He participated in many hard-fought engagements, and in August, 1863, while serving on special duty was captured by the Confederates and confined at Tyler, Texas, being there confined for nine months. He received a severe gunshot wound in his right hip, and after his recovery from his wound was struck in the side, by a cavalry wagon tongue, an injury which troubled him greatly in after years. After the close of the war Mr. Walker went to Wisconsin, where he followed the trade of carpenter for some years, but subsequently returned to Miami county, Indiana, and was married. Later he went to Missouri, where he was engaged in farming and working at his trade for about four years, and upon his return to Indiana located at Amboy, where he manufactured tile for five years. William A. Walker is an ordained minister of the Congregational church, and was pastor of the Amboy station for eleven consecutive years. Following this he purchased a farm in Miami county, on which he carried on operations until 1906, and in that year retired and went to Amboy, Miami county, Indiana. Mr. Walker was married in Miami county, Indiana, to Miss Malinda C. Daily, who was born in Darke county, Ohio, July 7, 1843, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Nicum) Daily, natives of Ohio. Mr. Daily was born January 15, 1806, and his wife December 14, 1813, and both died in Miami county, Indiana, in 1880, within three days of each other. They were consistent members of the Friends church, and Mr. Daily was a lifelong democrat. Mrs. Walker's grandparents, Edmond and Anna (Emery) Daily, were farming people of Virginia and members of the Dunkard church. They early came West to Ohio, and there passed the remainder of their lives on a farm, the grandfather passing away in 1859, at the age of eighty-five, and the grandmother in the same year when eighty-two years old. Mrs. Walker died July 5, 1906, at Amboy, Indiana, the mother of four children who grew up and were married: Emma, who is the wife of Henry Wagnar, of Peru, Indiana, a railway engineer, and has one son: Gus; Mary Etta, who died after her marriage to Henry Graf of Miami county, by whom she had three children, - Harley, Myrtle and Lola; Elizabeth J., who died after her marriage to Harry Vincent, and left a daughter, - Montrue; and Harvey T. After the death of his first wife, Rev. Walker married Mary Lickbelt and moved to Culver, Marshall county, Indiana.

Harvey T. Walker was married in Miami county, Indiana, in 1905, to Miss Nellie M. Freeman, who was born in Miami county, August 12, 1887, and is a graduate of the North Grove high school. They have had three children, born as follows: Garnel born September 21, 1909; Ghlee Delight, September 7, 1911; and Garl D., March 4, 1913. Mrs. Walker is in perfect sympathy with her husband in all his undertakings. She is a member of the Ladies' Aid Society and a teacher in the Sunday school, and has taken a prominent part in church and charitable work. Fraternally, Mr. Walker is connected with the Masonic Blue Lodge and Knights of Pythias No. 188, of the latter of which is past chancellor, and holds membership also in the Improved Order of Red Men, being past sachem. His political faith is that of the republican party.

Blackford and Grant Counties, Indiana A Chronicle of their People Past and Present with Family Lineage and Personal Memoirs Compiled Under the Editorial Supervision of Benjamin G. Shinn
Volume I Illustrated
The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago and New York 1914
Submitted by Peggy Karol

JACOB WILLMANN. The late Jacob Willmann, who for thirty-five years was identified with the agricultural interests of Washington township, was one of the self-made men of Blackford county. No fortunate family of pecuniary advantages aided him at the outset of his career. He commenced his struggles with the world as a young man, and from that time until his death, September 12, 1901, was entirely dependent upon his own resources. Difficulties and obstacles confronted him, but these were overcome by determined efforts, and as the years passed he worked his way steadily upward until he was recognized as one of his community's most substantial men.

Mr. Willmann was born July 1, 1842, in Morrow county, Ohio, and is a son of Michael and Rebecca (Bailey) Willmann. His father, born in Germany about the year 1812, grew to manhood in his native land, and about the year 1830 accompanied a party of emigrants, including his parents, to the United States. The family made its first settlement in Pennsylvania, and there Michael Willmann was married, subsequently removing to Morrow county, Ohio, and later to Blackford county, Indiana, where the grandparents both died. Here the father purchased and improved a good farm and became a man of substance and standing in the community. He was past seventy years of age at the time of his death, while Mrs. Willmann lived to be eighty-one years old. They were lifelong members of the German Lutheran church, which they had joined in their native land, and Mr. Willmann was a democrat and one of the early commissioners of Blackford county. The children born to Michael and Rebecca Willmann were as follows: Tina, who died as an infant; Susanna, who also died young; Peter, whose death occurred at the age of twenty-one years; Jacob, of this review; and John and George, the only survivors, both of whom have large families and are the owners of valuable farms in Blackford county.

Jacob Willmann was still a child when he accompanied his parents to Blackford county, and here he grew to manhood on the old homestead, assisting his father in the hard and unceasing work of clearing the land, and securing his education in the district schools during the short winter terms. He remained under the parental roof until the time of his marriage, when he purchased eighty acres of land in section 35, Washington township, on which was located a small log cabin. A few acres had been partly improved but the land was practically without cultivation, and Mr. Willmann set himself resolutely down to the development of a good farm. The log cabin continued to be the family home until 1882, when it was replaced by a commodious frame residence of six rooms, to which were added three more rooms, and which still stands, a handsome white structure surrounded by a full set of substantial farm buildings. As the years passed, and his finances permitted, Mr. Willmann added to his land from time to time, until at his death he was the owner of 223 acres, all improved, and all still in the family. Mr. Willmann was an industrious man and set an example for energetic and intelligent labor. He was a man of the strictest integrity, and his record in business transactions was without stain or blemish of any kind. General farming and stock raising occupied his attention, and in both of these lines he met with well merited success. A democrat in political matters, politics held out no attraction to him and he cared little for the honors or emoluments of public office. He was reared in the Lutheran church and continued faithful to that belief throughout his life. A good citizen, an industrious farmer, a kind husband and father and a loyal friend, when he passed away his community lost a man whose place it was found hard to fill.

Mr. Willmann was married in 1866 in Jackson township, Blackford county, Indiana, to Miss Martha E. Schmidt, who was born in Pennsylvania, April 17, 1845, and was an infant in arms when brought to Delaware county, Indiana, by her parents, John P. and Martha E. (Schwartz) Schmidt. Mrs. Willmann's parents were natives of Germany, the father born at Hesse Darmstadt and the mother at Cohessen. They came to the United States as young people with their parents, the journey being made in a sailing vessel and consuming ninety days. They were married at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, July 29, 1842, and in 1845, with their two children, Martha E. and Peter, came with a one-horse team overland to Delaware county, although later they moved to Cicero, Hamilton county, Indiana, where the mother died in 1854. Mr. Schmidt then came with his children to Jackson township, Blackford county, where he followed farming and tailoring until his death in 1882. He was married to Anna B. Treitsch, who was born in Germany and came to the United States in young womanhood, and she died in Jackson township in 1878. By this marriage there were six children: an infant; Elizabeth, who died after her marriage and left two children; Katherine, the wife of Peter Waltz, of Hamilton county, Indiana, who has seven children; Jacob, born in 1861, a bachelor and living with his sister, Mrs. Willman; Eva, the wife of Ed Sutton, living in Grant county and the mother of two daughters; and William H., farmer of Harrison township, Blackford county, who is married. The parents of Mrs. Willmann had the following children: Martha E.; Peter; Philip L., a farmer of Jackson township, has been married three times and has six children; Sarah, the widow of Joseph Markle, lives at Hartford City and has no issue; and John H., a farmer of Jackson township, is married and has five children.

Mr. and Mrs. Willmann became the parents of eleven children, as follows: S. Peter, living on a farm in Licking township, married Elizabeth Gucker, and has five children, Ruth E., Robert A., Paul., Reuben O. and Martha R.; Margaret R., still single and living at home, and who with her two sisters is the owner of a nice farm of sixty-three acres, a part of the homestead; John Henry, clerk at Wiler's Store, at Hartford City, married Amelia Schumacher and has two children, Kenneth C. and Vonda Elizabeth; Jacob M., a farmer of Licking township, married Caroline Schumacher, and has two children, Ralph W. and Naomi Delight; Lewis D., who married Clara Weschke, lives on a farm in Licking township, and has seven children, Harry Clayton, Luther Clarence, Esther M., Arlo L., Maria C., Ruby N. and Audra A.; Anna Barbara, who is single, resides at home, and is identified with Wiler's Store, at Hartford City; William E., living on a farm in Arkansas, married Amelia Brose, of Washington township, and has a daughter, Helen C.; Charles M., who died when twenty-one years of age, unmarried; Walter M., who is single and resides with his brother on the Arkansas farm; and Martha C., who graduated from the Hartford City high school in the class of 1911 and who married June 18, 1914, Reverend Simon Long, and lives at Xenia, Ohio. Mrs. Willmann and the members of her family are identified with the Evangelical Lutheran church of Hartford City. She is a lady widely known and highly respected in Washington township, and has numerous friends throughout this vicinity.

Blackford and Grant Counties, Indiana A Chronicle of their People Past and Present with Family Lineage and Personal Memoirs Compiled Under the Editorial Supervision of Benjamin G. Shinn
Volume I Illustrated
The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago and New York 1914
Submitted by Peggy Karol

NORMAN W. JACKSON. At the present time the leading citizen of Harrison township, so designated officially by the choice of the people, is Norman W. Jackson, trustee of the township, and a lifelong resident of this vicinity. The Jackson family has been identified with Blackford county more than sixty years, and by farming and liberal public spirit have been a family of great usefulness in this section. Norman W. Jackson outside of his official relations with the community is esteemed as a progressive farmer, a man who has made that industry a business, and by strict attention to its details has accumulated a more than gratifying success.

Norman W. Jackson was born on the southeast corner of the Godfrey Reserve in Harrison township, June 30, 1872, and is a son of George M. and a grandson of Edward C. Jackson, both of whom were identified with this part of Blackford county. The paternal grandparents, Edward C. and Margaret (Smith) Jackson, were born respectively in Maryland and Pennsylvania, were taken when children to Holmes county, Ohio, married there, and in 1850 moved to Blackford county, Indiana, and located in Harrison township. Edward Jackson was a democrat and quite active in local affairs. There were eight children: William Jackson, deceased; Alfred, who served in the Thirty-fourth Indiana Regiment during the Civil war; J. J. Jackson, a soldier in the Thirty-seventh Illinois Regiment for three and a half years; Mary J., who married Benjamin Hudson and both are now deceased; Samuel, who died in infancy; Sarah A., deceased; George M.; and Margaret, wife of James Schultz.

George M. Jackson was an infant when the family moved to Blackford county, and has the distinction of having attended a log cabin schoolhouse. His preparation for life so far as schooling was concerned was about the average of that time. In 1870 he married Anna D. Cunningham, who was born in Brown county, Ohio, January 16, 1847, and was eighteen years old when her family came to Indiana. George M. Jackson is one of the men who came up from almost poverty to prosperity. At one time he was assessed ten dollars for personal property, but now owns considerable land and with his son is proprietor of two hundred and forty acres. His home farm comprises seventy-seven acres, and every dollar in property possessed by him by him has been acquired as the result of his own industry and good management. For several years after his marriage he was a renter, and by thrift and hard work got his start. Five years of industry enabled him to buy thirty-five acres, and he still owns a portion of that first purchase. George M. Jackson and wife have four children: Norman W.; Eliza E., who is the wife of Levi Murphy; Ambrose, who lives in this state; Gertrude, the wife of Ross Beamer; and one deceased, William. The family are communicants of the Friends church, and George M. Jackson is a minister and well esteemed in his church society. In politics he is a democrat.

Norman W. Jackson in a business way is best known as proprietor of Jackson Valley Farm, situated six miles southeast of Montpelier. That place represents a high degree of cultivation and improvement, and its resources and value are a fair measure of Mr. Jackson's business career, which has been one of successful management since young manhood. Reared in Harrison township, educated in the common schools, when about sixteen years of age he left his books to take up the serious occupation of life. He remained with his father until nineteen, and in January, 1892, established a home of his own by his marriage to Nettie Liestenseltz. Mrs. Jackson was born in Harrison township, and was educated in the common schools. To their union have been born six children, as follows: Roy R. Jackson, who married Mamie Williams and lives in Harrison township as a farmer; William R., a graduate of the common schools and now at home; Eliza, who also finished the common school course; Anna C., who completed the course of the common schools in 1914; Herbert and Herman, twins.

Mr. Jackson affiliates with Montpelier Lodge of the Knights of Pythias. As a democrat he has taken an active part in local politics for a number of years, served on the township and county committee, and on July 3, 1911, was appointed township trustee. His work as a public official has been consistent with his business career, and the people of the township believe that the schools, the roads, and other interests have never been in better hands than during the present trusteeship. Mr. Jackson is the owner of one hundred and fifty-three acres of land in Section 25 of Harrison township, and at the present time he is erecting a new 8-room modern home. There is also a house on the west end of the farm. His barn is 36 x 48, and the place is well improved in every way, including about 3,000 rods of tiling and other open ditches.

Blackford and Grant Counties, Indiana A Chronicle of their People Past and Present with Family Lineage and Personal Memoirs Compiled Under the Editorial Supervision of Benjamin G. Shinn
Volume I Illustrated
The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago and New York 1914
Submitted by Peggy Karol

DANIEL E. SPAULDING. A Blackford county agriculturist whose career is deserving of much praise is Daniel E. Spaulding, whose years have all been spent in Blackford county and whose family is one of the best known and oldest in this section. He began life without capital and without assistance from influential friends, and has worked his way steadily upwards from a humble financial position to the ownership of a finely developed farm in Washington township.

Daniel Spaulding was born on a farm in Harrison township of Blackford county, July 28, 1867, a son of George C. and Catherine (Wilson) Spaulding. The family was established in this part of Indiana by his grandfather, Francis Spaulding, who was a native of Vermont and of New England lineage. In that state he married Mary J. Hale, also of New England stock and related to the prominent Hale family. After his marriage Francis Spaulding, with four brothers, and his wife emigrated to Indiana. That was a number of years before the first railroads were constructed this far west, and the Spauldings all located in the vicinity of Montpelier, and acquired new and probably government land. Four of these Spaulding pioneers were named Francis, Stephen, Frank and John. They spent their lives in the same locality where they went through the hardships of pioneer existence, and most of them attained a good old age before death. Francis Spaulding died at his home one mile west of Montpelier at the age of sixty-five, and his widow survived him four or five years. His death was the result of an accident. He and his son had been felling timber, and in its fall a portion of the tree struck Mr. Spaulding and brought about his death. He and his wife had become well known people in that community, were good Christians, and kindly and helpful neighbors after the pioneer fashion. Their children were Henry, Alfred, George C., Isaac and Minerva, also Eveline and Harrison, both deceased.

George C. Spaulding was born in Harrison township of Blackford county, July 15, 1844, grew up in a somewhat primitive country, attended a common school, and after his marriage engaged in farming in Harrison township until 1873. That year marked his removal to Washington township, when he bought forty acres in Section 12. The new purchase was land in its primeval state, and his labors were the means of bringing it into a fine state of cultivation and the making of it a valuable property. On that home George C. Spaulding died March 8, 1913, just six days after the death of this beloved wife. He was republican in politics, a prominent member of Bethel United Brethren church, of which he was a trustee and a leading supporter, and was a man of no small influence in community affairs. George C. Spaulding was married in Wells county to Catherine Wilson, who was born in that county in 1845 and died March 2, 1913. She was likewise active in the affairs of the United Brethren church. Her parents were Joseph and Leah Wilson, natives of Ohio, where they were married and at an early day they left their native state and with ox teams and wagons moved to Indiana. The land on which they located in the vicinity of Keystone was entirely without improvement, and during the years in which they cleared the soil, built a home, and gained a foothold in the new country they had to endure all the vicissitudes of pioneer existence. Joseph Wilson was born September 2, 1812, and died January 21, 1891, and his wife was born January 24, 1824, and died September 30, 1894. The Wilson family was among the founders and principal supporters of the United Brethren church in their community, and Mr. Wilson was a republican in politics. To the marriage of George C. and Catherine Spaulding were born the following children: Daniel E.; William, born June 27, 1869, and died in 1870; Della, born September 30, 1873, and died in December, 1874; Alonzo M., born November 11, 1874, an active farmer of Washington township, and by his marriage to Verna Williams has two children, Virgil E. and Gladys Opal; and Estella M., who is the wife of Milton Ritchie, and lives in Montpelier, and is the mother of three sons and three daughters.

Daniel E. Spaulding received his education in the public schools and was reared amid rural surroundings. He early decided to adopt agriculture as his life work, and after attaining his majority faced the world on his own account, working on various properties in the county. Carefully saving his earnings, by 1900 he was able to make his first purchase, a tract of fourteen acres in Washington township, to which he added from time to time as his circumstances would permit, until he owned seventy-nine acre, in two plots. This land he continued to cultivate until March, 1914, when he sold this land and bought his present property, a handsome tract of ninety acres located in section 23. Mr. Spaulding has made numerous improvements on his land, has modern residence and a large red barn 36 X 48 feet, owns good stock and uses modern machinery, and has made his farm into an attractive and handsome country home. His success has come to him as a result of conscientious and painstaking effort, tireless industry and steady application along well-directed lines. Among his neighbors and associates he is known as a man of the strictest integrity, who is ever ready to assist others and to advance the interests of his community as far as lies in his power.

Mr. Spaulding was married in Washington township, to Miss Alvina Dearduff, who was born in this township, September 17, 1867, and is a daughter of Thomas and Mahala (Johnakin) Dearduff. Her parents, natives of Ohio, were married in the state, and soon thereafter came to Harrison township, Blackford county, form whence they removed to Washington township. The father served four years in the Civil war as a member of Company I, 130th Regiment, Second Volunteer Infantry. He died at the age of fifty-six years, in 1901, while the mother survived until August, 1907, and was sixty-five years of age at the time of her demise. They were members of the United Brethren church, and Mr. Dearduff was a lifelong republican. In their family were fourteen children, all of whom are now deceased save four: Elizabeth, who is the wife of Mathew Runkle, of Dundee, owner of a feed mill, and has three children, - Clifton, Florence May, and Mary; Alvina, who is now Mrs. Spaulding; James, a farmer of Washington township, who married Bertha Black, now deceased, and has three children, - Goldie, Arzia and Elsie; and Oliver, employed at the cement works at Hartford City, married Alice Bunch and has two children, - Howard and Harold. Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding have two children: Ralph, born September 21, 1891; and Grace, born October 29, 1900. Mr. Spaulding is a republican, but has never cared for public office.

Blackford and Grant Counties, Indiana A Chronicle of their People Past and Present with Family Lineage and Personal Memoirs Compiled Under the Editorial Supervision of Benjamin G. Shinn
Volume I Illustrated
The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago and New York 1914
Submitted by Peggy Karol

Deb Murray