Dr. Henry Coffman Davisson was born at Norton, Delaware county Ohio, on the 25th of September, 1837, and is a son of Henry Carl Davisson, Jr., and Sarah (Coffman) Davisson, the former of whom was born in Ireland, and the latter at Newark, Licking county, Ohio, of German ancestry. The lineage of the Davisson family is traced back to staunch Scotch origin, but the family was early founded in the north of Ireland, where representatives of the name settled on leaving Scotland to escape religious indignities, if not persecution, as they were non-conformists and members of the Presbyterian church. Henry C. Davisson was a child of about two years when his parents immigrated from the Emerald Isle, approximately a century ago, and established their home in Rockingham county, Virginia. There his father, Henry Carl Davisson, Sr., passed the residue of his long and industrious life, and his wife also attained to advanced age. Concerning their children Dr. Davisson, of this review, has not definite information save concerning his own father and the latter's brother Ananias, who became a prominent member of the Virginia bar and who served as a general in the Confederate army in the Civil war. Henry Carl Davisson, Jr., was reared at Harrisonburg, Rockingham county, Virginia, and there in his youth he learned the trade of blacksmith. As a young man he left his native state and removed to Ohio, where he maintained his home for a number of years a successful artisan at his trade. He finally returned to his native county, and the closing years of his life were passed at Harrisonburg, Virginia, where he died at the age of seventy-nine years. Both he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church and in the turbulent period leading up to the Civil war he was a stalwart Abolitionist. In 1840 he became a resident of Morrow county, Ohio, and in Peru township, that county, he was the only adherent of the whig party in the early days. He later affiliated with the republican party, and his death occurred about the year 1898. At Newark, Licking county, Ohio, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Anna Coffman, and she proceeded him to eternal rest, the closing years of her life having been passed in Morrow county, Ohio. Of the two sons and three daughters only two are now living, - Dr. Henry C. and Mrs. Anna E. Glassford, the latter being a widow and an evangelist of the Methodist Episcopal church, with residence at Fort Scott, Kansas.

Dr. Davisson was reared to adult age in Morrow county, Ohio, and from the age of twelve years to that of sixteen he prosecuted his studies in Mount Hesper Seminary, later taking a classical course in the seminary at Granville, Ohio. He began the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. Pennock, an able physician of the Buckeye State, and after duly fortifying himself he engaged in the practice of this profession, though he did not receive the specific degree of Doctor of Medicine until 1870, when he was graduated in a well ordered college of medicine. The Doctor has been indefatigable in the work of his profession, has been a close and appreciative student, has kept abreast of the advances made in medical and surgical science, and his success has given him secure prestige as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of northern Indiana, he having for many years been engaged in active practice in Blackford county. With marked acumen Dr. Davisson has made investments in real estate, and through this medium he has accumulated a substantial fortune, his investments having been largely in well improved farm properties in this section of Indiana. These farms yield forth their increase in due season and give to the owner an appreciable revenue. The Doctor has reason to take pride in his success and he finds pleasure in his association with the great basic industry of agriculture, giving to his various properties his personal supervision in a general way.

The call of patriotism did not find Dr. Davisson lacking when the Civil war was precipitated. In response to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers, in 1861, he enlisted as a private, and through his influence seventeen other young men were induced to enlist at the same time. The Doctor soon became a member of the surgical corps of his service in the Union ranks.

In Blackford county Dr. Davisson is the owner of four good farms, and his residence in Hartford City is one of the most spacious and attractive in the county, the same being situated on Walnut street and having eleven rooms. In the home he delights to extend welcome to his host of friends, and his wife proves a most gracious and popular chatelaine. Mrs. Davisson is a leader in the social activities of Hartford City and is likewise a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church. The Doctor holds membership in the American Medical Association, the Indiana State Medical Society and the Blackford County Medical Society, and also in the Delaware District Medical Society, of which he served one year as president. He has been an appreciative student of the history and tenets of the Masonic fraternity, with which he is actively affiliated, as a member of the various York Rite bodies as well as the Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine in the city of Indianapolis. Dr. Davisson has gained more than local reputation as a post-prandial and general impromptu speaker, is possessed of much literary ability, including facility in metrical composition, and he has contributed to the press many interesting articles, besides giving to various medical journals valuable articles touching his experience in his professional work. His success is the more pleasing to contemplate by reason of the fact that when he arrived in Blackford county his cash capital was summed up in a single silver dime, - a coin that he long treasured as a souvenir but one that was finally stolen from him.

At Trenton, Blackford county, in 1860, Dr. Davisson wedded Miss Eliza Anderson. They have no children, but they reared in their home Lida, a niece of Mrs. Davisson and now the wife of Samuel J. Farrell, who is bookkeeper for the Johnson Glass Company, of Hartford City, and clerk of the court of Blackford county, Indiana. Mrs. Davisson is a sister of Judge Randolph C. Anderson, who is a representative legist and jurist of South Dakota, with residence at Miller, Hand county.

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

ALVIN CHANDLER. As a sterling and highly honored citizen of Hartford City, the judicial center of Blackford county, and as a representative of one of the well known pioneer families of this section of the state, Mr. Chandler is well entitled to recognition in this history. He is a scion of the staunchest of English stock and his ancestors who became the founders of the American branch of the family were members of the Society of Friends, of which noble religious body they were early representatives in Pennsylvania, at the time of William Penn.

The original American progenitors of the Chandler family immigrated from England to the New World in 1687, and the head of the family was George Chandler, who was accompanied by his wife and their seven children. The long and weary voyage was made on a primitive sailing vessel, and en route the husband and father was attacked with illness that terminated in his death, his remains being buried at sea. The stricken widow and children finally reached American shores and made their way to Pennsylvania, where they settled on the Brandywine river, near Chadsford, in November, 1687. In that vicinity Mrs. Chandler passed the remainder of her life and there she contracted a second marriage, the name of her second husband having been Hawks. The next in line of direct descent to the subject of this review was Swithin Chandler, who was a prosperous farmer in the old Keystone state, where he lived until the close of his life. In England the family had early become identified with the Society of Friends, and in America the members of the family were associated with the Fox branch of this fine old Quaker stock. Of the sons and daughters of Swithin Chandler the one to whom Alvin Chandler traces his lineage was Jonathan Chandler. This worthy forbear passed his entire life in Pennsylvania, where he likewise followed agricultural pursuits, and his son John, the next in line, also became a successful Pennsylvania farmer. He was born in Pennsylvania and there remained throughout his life. He reared a large family of children and his son Spencer was born about that time of the inception of the war of the Revolution. Spencer Chandler attained to venerable age and was the first of the family to marry outside the Society of Friends, from which organization he was deposed on this account. He wedded Nellie Coleson and they removed to Ohio, to become pioneer settlers of Guernsey county. There Spencer Chandler secured a tract of wild land, much of which he reclaimed to cultivation, and the property eventually became very valuable, as it had rich deposits of coal. About 1850 Mr. Chandler sold his land to Mortimer Wood, whose descendants still hold the property. Spencer Chandler was past middle life at the time when he sold his Ohio holdings and he soon afterward came to Indiana and established his residence in Blackford county. Here he entered claim to unimproved land in Washington and Harrison townships, but later he returned to Ohio, where his wife died. Their children were John, William, Mary, Polly (Mrs. Hammer), Martha (Mrs. Logan) Coleson, Aaron and James. Some of the sons and one son-in-law, Peter V. Hammer, came to Blackford county to institute the reclamation of the land previously mentioned. These sturdy citizens became prosperous agriculturists and influential citizens of Blackford county, and Mr. Hammer was one of the first county commissioners. He was a man of herculean proportions, having been six feet and four inches in height and of corresponding avoirdupois. All of the Ohio representatives of the Chandler family eventually came to Blackford county and established homes, but Coleson and Aaron later removed to the west, where they died. All of the others of the brothers and sisters died in Blackford county with the exception of Martha, who still resides in Harrison township, and who is now an octogenarian. After the death of her first husband, Mr. Logan, she became the wife of John Kirkpatrick, who likewise is still living.

James Chandler, father of him to whom this sketch is dedicated, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, in the year 1823, and in the old Buckeye state he was reared and educated. There also was solemnized his marriage to Sarah A. Logan, who died a year later, as did also her only child. Albert Chandler later came to Blackford county, and at Montpelier he wedded Miss Frances Ardelia Rice, who was born in Albany, New York, in 1830, and who was a child of six years at the time of the family removal to Montpelier, Indiana, where she was reared and educated. She was a daughter of Ira P. and Ardelia (Stephens) Rice, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of Hartford, Connecticut, their marriage having been solemnized in the state of New York, whence they came to Blackford county, Indiana, in 1836. Mr. Rice took up a tract of land on a part of which the thriving town of Montpelier is partially situated, and there he died at the age of sixty-eight years, his widow attaining to the age of seventy-seven years and both having been earnest Christian folk who commanded unqualified popular esteem. Mr. Rice was originally a whig and later a republican in politics, and the same holds good with the older generation of the Chandler family.

After his second marriage James Chandler engaged in farming on a homestead near Montpelier, his land having been secured from the government and having been school land. He developed a productive farm and his life was one of distinctive integrity and usefulness, so that he ever had secure hold upon popular confidence. He died on his old homestead on the 28th of June, 1864, and his widow then assumed the management of the farm and the rearing of her children. She survived her husband by many years and was summoned to the life eternal in 1888, loved by all who had come within the sphere of her gentle influence. She was devout member of the New Light Christian church and her daily life was guided in accord with the faith which she thus professed. Of the children of James and Frances Ardelia Chandler, Alvin of this review was the first in order of birth; Marietta is the wife of John A. Shannon and they reside on the old Chandler homestead, their children being four sons and one daughter; Mary, who resides with her husband on a portion of the old Chandler farm, is the wife of William B. Evers, and they have one son and one daughter; Ellen is the wife of Henry Nye and their residence is unknown.

Alvin Chandler was born on the old homestead farm in Montpelier township and the date of his nativity was October 10, 1854. His early educational advantages were those of the common schools of the locality and he early began to assist in the work of the farm. He continued to attend school until he was sixteen years of age and thereafter was associated in the work and management of the home farm until 1879, when he began a practical apprenticeship to the blacksmith trade. He became a skilled workman and for four years was employed as a journeyman, by John Mason, in Hartford City. In February, 1889, he purchased the business of his employer, and he has since conducted an independent business, his personal popularity and his distinctive skill having gained to him a substantial and appreciative patronage. In 1900 he erected a brick shop, forty by sixty feet in dimensions, and his establishment is equipped with the most improved tools and accessories, with four forges in the center of the smithy, and with air and power supplied by electricity of five-horse power. He does a general blacksmithing and repair business and is known throughout the county as a skilled mechanic, even as he is recognized as a loyal and public-spirited citizen.

In politics Mr. Chandler has given staunch allegiance to the Republican party, and in a fraternal way he is prominently affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which organization has conferred upon him many honors of official order. He is now serving as district deputy grand, and his affiliations are with Patriot Lodge No. 262; Encampment No. 115, Patriarchs Militant; Canton, No. 45; and Lodge No. 294, Daughters of Rebekah. He is active in each department of the order and is one of its most influential representatives in Blackford county. Mrs. Chandler and her children hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church in their home city.

In Hartford City, on the 13th of June, 1880, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Chandler to Miss Clara A. Rowe, who was born in the same city, on the 25th of February, 1856, and who was reared from early childhood to the age of twelve years at Muncie, this state. She is a daughter of Henry P. and Emeline (Brugh) Rowe, who were numbered among the early settlers of Blackford county. Mr. Rowe passed the closing years of his life in the state of Washington and his wife died at Muncie, Indiana, her father, Jacob Brugh, having been a pioneer of Blackford county, Indiana, and one of the early county officials; he died in Hartford City, at an advanced age. Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Chandler brief record is here given: Edith, who remains at the parental home, was graduated in the Hartford City high school and has been a successful and popular teacher; Jay, who likewise received the advantages of the high school, is married and is still a resident of Hartford City, where he learned the trade of blacksmith under the direction of his father; Jennie, who duly availed herself of the advantages of the public schools, now holds a position as clerk in a local mercantile establishment; Ruth also received equal educational privileges and is bookkeeper and stenographer in a leading dry-goods store of Hartford City; William was graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1914; and Maria is a student in the local schools.

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

JOSEPH MARTIN. The late Joseph Martin, who died at his home in the attractive little city of Montpelier, Blackford county, on the 18th of July, 1911, came with his widowed mother from Ohio to Indiana when he was a lad of fifteen years, and he was thereafter associated with his two brothers in the reclaiming of a pioneer farm in the forest wilds of Wells county. Later he came to Blackford county, where he achieved success in connection with his various productive activities, having been for a long period in the service of the Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company and having been a man whose sterling attributes of character gave him inviolable place in the confidence and respect of all who knew him.

Mr. Martin was born on a farm near Greenville, the judicial center of Darke county, Ohio, about the year 1840, and he was a mere child at the time of his father's death. He acquired his early education in the common schools of his native county and when fifteen years of age he accompanied his widowed mother, three brother and one sister to Indiana, the family home having been established in Chester township, Wells county, in 1855. There the sons set themselves vigorously to the task of reclaiming a productive farm from the forest wilds, and their arduous efforts were eventually attended with definite success and concomitant prosperity, so that the loved and devoted mother was provided with a comfortable and pleasant home in the declining years of her life, which came to a close only when she had attained to the venerable age of eighty-nine years. Her four children survived her but all are now deceased except one of the sons.

He to whom this memoir is dedicated contributed his quota to the development and improvement of the old homestead farm in Wells county, and there he continued to be actively identified with agricultural pursuits until his removal to Blackford county, about the year 1873. In earlier years he had also done a successful business in the burning of lime, for which he found a ready market, and finally he entered the employ of the Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company, in the service of which continued for many years, principally in the capacity of watchman. In the meanwhile he became the owner of an attractive residence property in Montpelier, and this homestead still continues the abiding place of his widow and one of their sons. Mr. Martin met his death as the result of a pitiable accident while he was working for the railroad company just mentioned. He was operating a railroad "speeder," which was wrecked by an "extra" and unexpected freight train, and he received such serious injuries that he survived only a few days, his death having occurred July 18, 1911, as previously stated in this context. He was a man of high principles and he labored earnestly and effectively for many years, the while he was loyal to all civic duties and commanded the high regard of those who came within the compass of his influence. His political support was given to the Democratic party and he manifested much interest in those things that tend to conserve the social and material welfare of the community.

In Chester township, Wells county, in 1868, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Martin to Miss Anna M. Bentley, who was born at Lena, Darke county, Ohio, on the 18th of May, 1840, and who was ten years of age at the time of her parents' removal to Chester township, Wells county, where she was reared to maturity and received excellent educational advantages, as gauged by the standards of the locality and period. She is a daughter of Asahel and Phoebe (Patterson) Bentley, both natives of Ohio, where the former was born in Erie county and the latter they finally removed to Darke county, Ohio, the closing years of their lives having been passed in Chester township, Wells county, where the father procured eighty acres of wild land and where he and his sons reclaimed a valuable farm. There the father died in 1868, at the age of fifty-five years, in the meanwhile having represented Indiana as a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war. He served during virtually the entire period of the great conflict through which the integrity of the nation was perpetuated, and was a member of the One Hundred and Thirtieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. While in the military service he was injured in the breast while driving a team of army mules, and this precipitated pulmonary tuberculosis, from the effects of which he died only a few years after the close of the war. He was as loyal in the "piping times of peace" as he showed himself to be during his faithful service as a soldier of the Union, and he had been specially successful as a representative of the nursery business in the early days, having set many of the ultimately fine orchards in Wells county, where he was known and honored as a man of ability and genuine worth of character. A few years after his death his widow became the wife of James Bell, a prosperous merchant at Keystone, Wells county, and after the death of Mr. Bell she returned to her farm in Chester township, that county, where she continued to reside until she too was summoned to the life eternal, in 1901, when eighty-one years of age. She was a woman of gentle and noble character and was a most devout member of the Primitive Baptist church. Of her nine children, all born of her first marriage, Mrs. Martin is now the only survivor. Mrs. Martin is a woman of most gracious and winning personality and has a wide circle of friends in her home community, her pleasant residence, in Montpelier, being known for its generous and unostentatious hospitality. Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Martin the following brief record is consistently entered: Charles W., who is a prosperous and representative merchant of Albany, Delaware county, this State, where he is engaged in the shoe business, has three sons and two daughter: John Franklin, who has been identified with the oil producing and drilling business since he was a youth and who remains a bachelor, is now a Resident of Cleveland, Oklahoma; E. Roswell and Mary each died at the age of four years, and Minnetta at the age of one year; Grace is the wife of Edward Tisern, of Montpelier, and they have three daughters; and Frederick E., who remains with his widowed mother, is thirty years of age at the time of this writing, in 1914. Like the other children who attained to adult age, he received excellent educational advantages, and he is now devoting his time as a moulder in the Cup Metal Works, being one of the popular young men of Montpelier, where he is prominently identified with the lodge of Knight of Pythias, in which he has passed all of the official chairs. The attractive home of Mrs. Martin and her son is situated at the corner of Huntington and Columbia streets, and Mrs. Martin is a zealous member of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Montpelier.

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