The Mungers have been prominently represented in this part of Indiana for generations, ever since the grandfather of the subject of this sketch came here from Ohio in 1821 and settled in this county, establishing a fine home in Posey township. This pioneer was Edmund K. Munger, who was born in Rutland county, Vermont, September 13, 1790, third in order of birth of the twelve children born to Gen. Edmund and Eunice (Kellogg) Munger, natives of Connecticut, the former born on September 30, 1763, and the latter, August 13, 1767, who were married on December 5, 1785, and after a few years of residence at Washington, Connecticut, went to Rutland county, Vermont, where they resided until the spring of 1798, when they moved to Belpre, Ohio, and a year later moved thence to Montgomery county, that same state, becoming thus among the earliest residents of the Dayton neighborhood, where they spent the remainder of their lives, General Munger dying there on April 14, 1850, and his widow surviving until January 8, 1868, she then being one hundred years and five months of age. The Mungers are of old Colonial stock, the first of the name to come to this country having been Nicholas Munger, a descendant of the sea kings of the Baltic, born in 1623, who left a son, John, born in 1660, whose son, Ebenezer, born in 1693, had a son, Reuben, who was the father of General Munger. Settling in the Dayton neighborhood as early as 1799, General Munger early became one of the foremost factors in the early life of that settlement and when the War of 1812 broke out he raised a command and was commissioned brigadier general, but was later superseded by General Hull, who led his troops to disaster at Detroit. General Munger served for some time as a member of the Ohio legislature and in other ways did well his part as a citizen and as a man of affairs. He and his wife were Presbyterians and their children were reared in that faith.
Edmund K. Munger was eight or nine years of age when his parents moved from Vermont to Ohio and he grew to manhood in Montgomery county, in the latter state, remaining there until his marriage on December 17, 1812, to Mary Cole, who was horn in Virginia on October 15, 1794, a daughter of Samuel and Catherine (Byron) Cole, who were among the early settlers of Montgomery county, Ohio. Upon the breaking out of the War of 1812, Edmund K. Munger received a brevet appointment, but his active services were not required in that brief struggle. He remained in Ohio until 1821, when he came to Indiana and bought two hundred acres of land in section 19 of Posey township, this county, where he established his home and where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. Upon settling on that farm he put up a log cabin, which served as the place of family residence until 1835, when he erected a substantial brick house, which is still standing and in use. Originally a Whig, Mr. Munger became a Republican at the time of the organization of that party in 1856 and was active in the political affairs of his community. His wife was a devoted member of the Baptist church. She died on September 9, 1853, and Edmund K. Munger survived until June 10, 1872. They were the parents of twelve children, all now deceased.
Lazarus Munger, son of Edmund K. and Mary (Cole) Munger, was born on the old home farm in Posey township on September 11, 1831, and there grew to manhood; after the death of his parents he continued to make his home there, he and his brother, Edmund, having in 1863 bought one hundred and twenty-one acres of the homestead, and there he spent the rest of his life, one of the most substantial farmers and stockmen in that part of the county. Edmund Munger did not marry and made his home with his brother Lazarus, who was married in the fall of 1866. The two brothers engaged extensively in the live-stock business together until in August, 1882, when Lazarus Munger bought his brother's interest in the farm and the latter thereafter engaged in the building and loan business in Indianapolis and Cambridge City. Lazarus Munger not only continued in the live-stock business, but gradually added to his farm holdings until he became the owner of five hundred and eighteen acres of excellent land, all of which he brought under cultivation. He was an active Republican and though often importuned to become a candidate for one or another of the important offices in the county, ever declined and the only public service he accepted was the office of assessor of his home township, in which capacity he acted for some time. On September 10, 1866, Lazarus Munger was united in marriage to Savannah Ferguson, who was born in this county on February 8, 1843, a daughter of Linville and Elizabeth M. (Loder) Ferguson, the former of whom was born in North Carolina and the latter in this county and who were prominent residents of Posey township. To that union three children were born, Lorena M., Warren K. and Helen E. Lazarus Munger died at his home in Posey township on May 27, 1909, and his widow survived him a little less that1 three years, her death occurring on May 7, 1912.
Warren H. Munger has always lived on the farm where he was born. Upon completing the course in the public schools at Bentonville he took a course in the high school at Rushville and then entered Earlham College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1901 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He then spent a year in the University of Michigan, taking a special course in mechanical and electrical engineering and upon leaving college returned home and has ever since been there engaged in general farming and stock raising. Mr. Munger is the owner of one hundred and sixty-one acres of fine land there and has charge of a quarter of a section of land lying just across the road from his own farm, belonging to his sister, Mrs. Helen E. Davis, who is living near Clinton, Michigan, and is doing very well, his general farming being profitably augmented by the attention he has for some years been giving to the raising of cattle and hogs for the market.
During his college days at Earlham, Warren H. Munger became acquainted with Elizabeth Hanson, of New London, this state, also a member of the student body, but of a class two years later than that to which Mr. Munger belonged, and on April 2, 1911, the two were married. Elizabeth Hanson was born at New London, about fourteen miles west of Kokomo, in Howard county, this state, a daughter of Thomas Elwood and Lydia M. (Williams) Hanson, both of whom were born in Belmont county, Ohio, and who later moved to Indiana, where their last days were spent. Thomas Elwood Hanson was born in 1828, a son of Borden and Rachel (Cox) Hanson, natives of North Carolina, who were married in that state. Borden Hanson was a son of George and Susanna (Scrooven) Hanson, the former of whom was a soldier of the War of the Revolution and the latter a nurse during that struggle. While serving as a soldier George Hanson was seriously wounded and in the hospital he was tenderly nursed by Susanna Scrooven, a Quakeress, the acquaintance thus formed ripening into love and later marriage, George Hanson becoming a Quaker in order that he might marry his nurse. After their marriage Borden Hanson and his wife left North Carolina and settled in Belmont county, Ohio, whence presently they moved over into Indiana and settled near Economy, in Wayne county, Thomas E. Borden then being five years of age. There Borden Hanson died in 1847 and shortly afterward his widow and her children went to Howard county, where she spent her last days. Thomas E. Hanson was a young man when he accompanied his widowed mother to Howard county, the family there entering upon possession of a tract of government land the mother had bought. After the death of his mother, Thomas E. Hanson bought the interests of the other heirs in that farm and there continued farming the rest of his life, the owner of an excellent farm of one hundred and twenty acres. As a boy he had learned the carpenter trade and during the time he worked at that trade he built a number of houses at Germantown and Milton and in the surrounding country. He was active in church and school work and was particularly interested in the work of the Friends Academy at New London. He died on January 15, 1906.
Thomas E. Hanson was four times married. His first two wives died young and his third wife, Lydia M. Williams, was born near Barnsville, in Belmont county, Ohio, daughter of Ezra and Jane (Eaton) Williams, both of whom were born in that same vicinity, the former of English ancestry, the Williamses having moved by way of Pennsylvania into Ohio, and the latter a daughter of Ahijah and Jane (Campbell) Eaton, of Highland (Scotch) parentage. About 1856 Ezra Williams and his wife moved from Ohio to Indiana and settled in the Quaker settlement near New London in Howard county, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Ezra Williams was a birthright Quaker and his wife changed her faith from that of the Methodist to that of the Friends in order that their union might be harmonious on the question of religion. Her father, Ahijah Eaton, served for four years as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, attached to the Army of the Potomac and he had a son, James Eaton, who served in the artillery in the Army of the Cumberland, under Grant and Sherman. Lydia M. (Williams) Hanson died in 1878, when her daughter, Elizabeth, was but a child, and Thomas E. Hanson later married his deceased wife's sister, Emma, who died in the spring of 1903. Thomas E. Hanson's maternal grandmother, Rachel (Stubbs) Cox, mother of his mother, Rachel, was of French Huguenot ancestry, her forbears having fled from France during the days of the persecution and settled in Ireland, where they became attached to the Society of Friends, members of the family later coming to this country and remaining devoted Friends to the present generation. The Hansons have been traced back through their Danish ancestry to the days of the Vikings, the family having come to this country during Colonial days by way of England.
Elizabeth Hanson received her early schooling in the schools of New London and upon completing the course in the high school there entered Earlham College, from the science departments of which she was graduated in 1903. She then entered the training school for nurses in connection with the Deaconess Hospital at Indianapolis, with a view to becoming a professional nurse, but after three years of such training her health began to suffer and she left three months before the date of her expected graduation. She shortly afterward married Mr. Munger and did not return to Indianapolis to finish her course. Mr. and Mrs. Munger have a very pleasant home and take an interested and useful part in the general social activities of the community in which they live, helpful factors in the promotion of all agencies having to do with the advancement of the general welfare of the community at large.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
In the historical section of this volume, a chapter is devoted to the life and the works of John Conner, the founder of the city of Connersville and one of the most romantic and strikingly interesting figures in all the history of the great Hoosier state, and there is therefore no occasion for a review of the career of that fine old pioneer in this brief sketch relating to his descendants; put there are a few points that might properly be touched on as a means to furnishing, a sidelight on some of the inherited characteristics of these descendants, for it is undeniable that many of the traits that marked the character of the pioneer have come on down through the period, more than a century, that has elapsed since he began his labors in Indiana and are now discernible in the third and fourth generations of those who so proudly bear his name.
Though reared by the Indians, as set out in the chapter above mentioned, and perhaps more intimately familiar with the habits, customs and speech of the aboriginals than any white man, except his brother William, living in the then Territory of Indiana, John Conner was an aristocrat by blood and inheritance, possessed largely the money-making instinct and was a natural adventurer, his life from boyhood, when he was carried into the wilderness by his savage captors after the Wyoming Valley massacre, until the close of his interesting career being filled with stirring and romantic adventures. He was an instinctive and close student and in addition to acquiring a speaking knowledge of twenty-two aboriginal dialects, acquired a mastery of English and a speaking and reading acquaintance with French; and the choice library which he gradually accumulated in his pioneer home on the banks of the White Water was a continual source of wonder to his Indian friends and little less a source of wonder to those of his white companions of an early day who had put books behind them, for the time, when they left the East. His choice collection of silverware, plates and goblets for table service, which he had made in Boston, sending thither for that purpose many pounds of silver trinkets he had picked up in his trading with the Indians, indicated also a refinement of taste not often exhibited out here on the then frontier of civilization. Added to this collection was a magnificent punchbowl that had come from England, brought by the Winships, and that had descended to his wife, Lavina Winship. On his tour of the United States in his old age, General LaFayette visited John Conner and was regaled by a draught from this ancient punchbowl.
Concerning the services to the state performed by John Conner, it is not necessary here to go into detail, for all that has been dealt with at length elsewhere. As the right-hand man of General Harrison on more than one occasion and as the warm friend of the great Indian leader, Tecumseh, his services as an intermediary in the negotiations between the government and the aboriginals were of a notable character. As a member of the Senate in the first Territorial Legislature he also rendered conspicuous service and in other ways was a prime factor in the great work of establishing a social order out here in the then wilderness. At the battle of Tippecanoe he was an aide to General Harrison. When colonel Campbell was preparing to go to battle against the Indians on the Mississinewa. Governor Harrison advised him that when he wanted information regarding routes and details of the campaign he should seek Conner, and the latter acted as the guide to the expedition to the Mississinewa. Knowing of the friendship Conner bore toward the Indians, some of Campbell's soldiers feared the guide might lead the expedition into ambush. Campbell therefore ordered one of his men to ride near Conner and if the latter displayed the least sign of treachery to shoot him. One of Conner's friends in the troop informed the scout of this action, but the latter gave no outward indication of concern. Coming to a ford with which he formerly had been familiar, Conner urged his horse into the stream, but when the animal began floundering in deep water he discovered that the ford had been washed out since he had been that way. Conner's guard, believing that the guide was leading the troop into a dangerous channel, raised his to shoot, but Conner raised his hand and commanded him to wait, explaining the situation, and presently was able to pick out a safe ford for the passage of the troop. This quality of coolness in the time of danger may be illustrated by another incident in the life of the pioneer. One day he was in the woods with his gun and sat upon a fallen tree for a moment of rest, his gun pointing upward between his knees. An unwanted change in the form of the shadows at his feet warned Conner that a catamount was in the branches of the tree above him. Knowing that an impulsive motion on his part would precipitate the spring of the dangerous creature, Conner silently, cautiously and almost imperceptibly moved his gun until he knew, by the location of the shadow, that the catamount was in range of the same and then he pressed the trigger, bringing the animal crashing down dead at his feet.
John Conner prospered in his pioneer ventures and became one of the wealthiest men of his time in Indiana. He was courtly in manner and speech and conformed to the polite formalities and the proper exercise of the social amenities of life when the occasion demanded. His excellent taste in such matters prompted him in the selection of his clothes and there is a well-defined tradition that he was generally recognized as one of the best-dressed men in Indiana in his time. The warm affection that existed between him and his brother, William Conner, is a matter of pleasant tradition in his family to this day. He and his brother were closely connected in extensive business affairs and it is related that there never was the necessity for even "the scratch of a pen'' between them as the guaranty for the mutual fairness of these relations. On the occasions that William would come to visit John or John would go to visit William, it is related that the brothers would sit all night in earnest and enjoyable conversation. At times, as in the case of most brothers, they would be in disagreement, for both were men of decided opinions and strong convictions, but these "quarrels" never amounted to open rupture and after their verbal set-tos the best of feeling soon would be restored. When John Conner died his son, William Winship Conner, was but a child and his will directed that his brother, William, look after the boy. This dying request was religiously regarded by the brother, who directed the rearing of the youth and saw him through Hanover College and to a position in affairs wherein he could look after the extensive interests that had come to him through his father.
The story of John Conner's marriage to an Indian girl before he had attained his majority and of the birth by that marriage of two sons and of the death of the young Indian wife in 1812, is told in the chapter particularly relating to Mr. Conner, presented elsewhere in this volume, and needs only to be alluded to here. By his marriage to Lavina Winship, daughter of pioneer parents, the Winship family at that time having been residents of the Cedar Grove neighborhood, he was the father of two sons, William Winship Conner and Henry Ives Conner, and a daughter, the latter of whom died in her childhood. Lavina Winship Conner is referred to in contemporary accounts as a woman of lovely character and of many graces of person and mind, a fitting helpmeet for the man between whom and herself there came to be the most perfect understanding and the closest affection, and who proved to be a valuable factor in the work of setting up something more than a mere semblance of a social order in the formative period of the village that later grew into the thriving manufacturing city, the Connersville of today. The younger of the two sons mentioned above, Henry Ives Conner, died in his early manhood, right at the opening of what seemed to be a most promising career. He early took up the study of the law and upon being admitted to practice formed a partnership with James M. Ray and was engaged in the practice of his profession when he died suddenly. Contemporary accounts refer to the young man thus suddenly removed from the scenes of earthly activity, as having possessed a brilliant intellect, farseeing and of a ripeness of judgment that his elders in practice might have envied. Forty years before the outbreak of the Civil War he was recorded as having given utterance to the belief that the institution of slavery was a crime against manhood and against nature that only could be atoned for by war and bloodshed and that the nation some day would pay dearly and in bitterness of spirit for permitting the maintenance of the institution.
William Winship Conner was born at Connersville in 1820 and was but six years of age when his father died. As noted above, he was looked after by his paternal uncle, William Conner, who later made his home at Noblesville, and by his uncle was sent to Hanover College. In the meantime the considerable estate that had been left by his father had been carefully conserved and upon the young man's return from college he turned his active attention to the direction of his extensive business affairs. He had much of his father's directness of manner and keen executive ability and his affairs prospered from the very beginning. At the age of twenty-four years he was elected to represent his district in the state Senate and was a member of that body when the counties of Boone and Tipton were organized. He was a singularly light-hearted and genial young man and his early campaigns were marked by a spontaneity of expression and a gladsomeness of manner that made him friends all over the district, while his course in the Senate, in which he served, by succeeding re-elections, for ten years or more, made him friends among the most substantial persons in all parts of the then rapidly developing state. His youthful optimistic and sunny disposition gave him an appearance of youth that his early-matured mind strongly contradicted and led to some amusing confusion among his constituents. On one of his early campaigns he approached an elector, a stranger, and without introducing himself asked what were the chances of securing the voter's support in his race for the Senate. "My mind is made up," answered the voter. "I am going to vote for W. W. Conner, and, even if I wasn't, I wouldn't vote for a fellow as young as you." Though of the opposing political faith, William Winship Conner was appointed adjutant-general of the state if necessary under the administration of Governor Hendricks, his warm personal friend. Upon the organization of the Republican party Mr. Conner threw himself heart and soul into the new political movement and from the beginning was one of the leaders of the same in this state. He was a delegate to the historic convention of that party at Chicago that nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency in 1860. Under protest he accepted the instructions of the state convention that the Indiana delegation should cast its vote on the first ballot for Seward, but after that, he insisted, Indiana should stand "like a wall" for Lincoln and it did.
William W. Conner married Amanda Coggswell, who was born in Canada, and who was but two years of age when her parents, Francis B. and Sallie (Thorn) Coggswell, came to Indiana and located at Noblesville, where F. B. Coggswell was for years engaged in the mercantile business. Both Mr. Conner and his wife spent their last days in Noblesville. Of the children born to this parentage six lived to maturity, namely: John C., Lavina, Sarah, Addie, Mary E. and William Winship, second, the latter of whom is a veterinary surgeon, now living at Farmland, this state; married and has two children, Jesse and Ruth. The other son, John C. Conner, possessed many of his father's energetic traits. He went to Texas at twenty-three years of age, as captain in the regular army, but resigned that position, to take an active part in the reconstruction of that state. He was twice elected to Congress from that state and the nomination for the third term was given him by acclamation, but, on account of ill health, he was compelled to decline. He died, December 10, 1875, at the age of thirty-one. Lavina Conner married Richard Conner, son of William Conner, and spent her married life in Indianapolis, where she died, leaving one son, Charles E. Conner. Addie Conner married Charles F. Woerner, who as a partner of Colonel Straight, was one of the most successful manufacturers in Indiana. He was also state labor commissioner under Governors Hanly and Marshall. She is living at Indianapolis. She has four children, William Conner, Frances, wife of John F. Engelke; Freda L. and Mrs. Carolyn Woerner Smith, widow of Charles T. Smith, of Greenfield, Indiana. Mary E. Conner married Wesley Bond, who is now deceased. She formerly lived in Kansas City, but is now living in Indianapolis. She has two daughters, Mrs. Gertrude Anderson and Ruth Bond.
Sarah Conner married James R. Christian, of Noblesville, former clerk of the court of Hamilton county and who was a well-to-do stock farmer. To that union was born one son, John Conner Christian, who early developed a remarkable business ability and at the age of twenty-one was directing a business that had attracted the attention of millionaires. At the age of seventeen he went to Texas, where his half-brothers were interested in the oil business and set himself to the task of becoming thoroughly familiar with the business relating to the oil industry then developing so rapidly in that state. By the time he was twenty-one years of age he had a growing business of his own and was known as a skillful and successful promoter of enterprises bearing upon the oil industry when death overtook him, stopping what promised to he a very successful career, in March, 1914. He married Flora McCarty, of Noblesville. He left no children.
Mrs. Sarah Conner Christian now lives at Indianapolis with her sister, Mrs. Woerner. She is not idle, nor could she be. She was educated at the old Baptist Institute that stood on the site of the present Shortridge high school in Indianapolis and early developed an unusual mental capacity, which found its outflow along various useful lines, particularly in public work. As a young woman she was for some time engaged as society editress of the Noblesville Enterprise and early developed a clear, terse style of writing that has given her more than local reputation as a writer. From her youth interested in matters relating to the early history of Indiana, with particular reference to the part her grandfather, John Conner, took in making that history, she has collected much interesting material concerning the man who founded Connersville and the historian gratefully acknowledges here the obligation he owes to Mrs. Christian for interesting data supplied in that connection. Mrs. Christian is widely known in Indiana club circles and is constantly being engaged to write club papers for women whose talents have not been developed along those lines; these papers being read before some of the leading clubs in Indianapolis and elsewhere throughout the state. Mrs. Christian's comprehensive research in pioneer history and her ability to narrate the story of pioneer days in an informative and entertaining manner are well known throughout the state and she frequently is called upon to address public gatherings, old settlers meetings, flag raisings, meetings of the Woman's Relief Corps, or to address the city council in behalf of worthy movements, her addresses not infrequently being published in full by the city newspapers. At a celebration of the Fourth of July on one occasion when there were fourteen thousand persons present, Mrs. Christian's address held the great multitude in rapt attention. Her ability in this direction seems to have been an inheritance from her father, the Hon. William Winship Conner, son of the Hon. John Conner, of whom it is related that his extemporaneous speeches in the Senate or on the hustings were delivered with much ease and fluency that he hardly could speak rapidly enough to keep pace with the ideas that teemed for utterance.
Reverting to the ancestral history of the Conner family, the following quotation is from Reverend Stimpon, whose informant was William Conner, of Hamilton county, Indiana, and who was the son of Richard Conner, here referred to:
"Sometime before the Revolutiorary War, three Roman Catholic, Irish gentlemen - brothers - sons of John Conner, of Dublin, Ireland, came to this country. Their names were Thomas, James and Richard Conner. When the "O" which was formerly a prefix to their name, was left off, is not exactly known, but supposedly at that time. They had between them considerable wealth. One of them settled in Virginia, another, in New England, where some of his descendants are now living, while the other brother, Richard, with whom we have to do, preferred Pennsylvania. With a generosity and a loose way of keeping accounts, both characteristic of a young man and an impulsive Irishman, his share of the many thousand pounds was soon spent and he doubtless was compelled to take up fur trading with the Indians. He established himself at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh, where he subsequently sojourned for a short time, in 1770 consisted of twenty cabins, inhabited by Indian fur traders. The garrison of Fort Pitt consisted of two companies of Irish regulars. Now we can easily see that Richard Conner, an Irishman, married to a French woman, who thoroughly understood the Indians, would be amongst the first to go over the mountains to the trading post at Pittsburgh, where many of his own countrymen were. From this place he pushed on and established a trading post at what became Conner's Town, Ohio, in what is now Coshocton county. At the time of that settlement, 1770, previous to the Revolution, there was no Northwest Territory. There were only indefinable possessions, ceded by the French, and Pennsylvania could claim this region until a later survey robbed her of it."
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
When the future historian of Connersville and of Fayette county comes to summarize the various individual factors that have contributed so largely to the industrial and commercial development of the city and county, it undoubtedly will be found that the name of the late John B. McFarlan will be found very near the head of that list. From the time of taking up his residence in Connersville in 1856 to the time of his death in 1909, John B. McFarlan was a tireless promoter of the interests of his home town and it is undoubted that his energy and public spirit did very much toward gaining for Connersville the advantageous industrial eminence it now occupies among the sisterhood of cities in the proud old Hoosier commonwealth. Elsewhere in this volume there is set out at considerable length something of the history of the McFarlan family in this county, together with interesting details of a genealogical character relating to that family, and these it will not be necessary here to repeat; but the biographer would be remiss in the discharge of his obligation of duty and respect to the memory of those stalwart men of a past or now passing generation who did so much for the early development of this community if he did not here present a brief memorial sketch of the pioneer manufacturer whose name forms the caption of this particular narrative.
John B. McFarlan was a native of the great city of London, but had been a resident of this country since the days of his childhood and was therefore as much American and as proud of the institutions of this country as "one native and to the manner born." He was about eight years of age when his parents, James and Ann (Beecraft) McFarlan, left England with their family and came to this country, settling in Hamilton county, Ohio, in the immediate vicinity of the city of Cincinnati. James McFarlan, who was a native of Scotland, was a silk manufacturer in London, but upon coming to this country bought a farm in the vicinity of Cincinnati, land now included in the corporate limits of that city, and there established his home and spent his last days, his death occurring there when he was fifty-eight years of age. His widow, who survived him many years, lived to be nearly ninety years of age. Of their considerable family of children, the following lived to maturity: James, Thomas, Robert, Edward, Ann, Martha, Elizabeth, Mary and the subject of this memorial sketch.
Reared on the home farm in the neighborhood of Cincinnati, John B. McFarlan completed his schooling there and when about seventeen years of age entered the factory of the old firm of George C. Miller & Sons at Cincinnati and was there thoroughly grounded in the trade of carriage blacksmithing. Upon completing his apprenticeship he opened a small carriage shop of his own in the village of Cheviot, afterward and now known as Westwood, a suburb of Cincinnati, and while there married. Not long afterward, about 1850, he moved up by canal to Cambridge City, this state, and there established a more extensive shop for the manufacture of carriages and did so well there that he presently began looking about for a more advantageous location, and in 1856 moved down to Connersville and there bought the carriage factory that had been established in that city by Ware & Veatch. That business Mr. McFarlan gradually expanded until his factory became one of the most extensive in the country and the product of the same became known far and wide for their excellence of construction. Not only did Mr. McFarlan become one of the leaders in the industrial life of the city he had chosen as his permanent home, but he was equally active in the general business affairs of the city and from the very beginning of his residence there his boundless energies were exerted in behalf of the city's development. Upon the discovery of natural gas hereabout he immediately discerned the incalculable advantage this form of fuel would prove to the city and became one of the chief organizers-of the Connersville Natural Gas Company, and was elected president of the same. He also was one of the organizers and a member of the board of directors of the Indiana Furniture Company (now the Krel Piano Company), was president of the McFarlan Building Company and upon the organization of the Connersville Blower Company was elected president of the same and served in that capacity until his death. For several years also he was president of the Fayette Banking Companv, organized in 1892, and since then merged with the First National Bank of Connersville, and in other ways gave of his time and his energies to the development of his home town; so that, when death called him on August 15, 1909, he then being nearly eighty-seven years of age, this community felt that it had suffered the loss of one of its greatest benefactors.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
Murl Donald Cummins, a well-known and substantial farmer of Posey township and owner of a fine farm of one hundred and six acres on the southern edge of that township, just over the line from the place on which he was born and where his father is still living in the northern part of Fairview township, was born on the farm last indicated and has lived in the northern part of this county all his life save for a short period spent in farming over in Rush county. He was born on September 5, 1885, son of Noah and Ella (Swift) Cummins, well-known residents of Fairview township and a biographical sketch of the former of whom, presented elsewhere in this volume, carries the interesting history of the Cummins family in this county.
Reared on the paternal farm in Fairview township, Murl D. Cummins received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood and remained at home until after his marriage, when, in 1903, he began farming on his own account, spending one season on the farm which he now owns, across the line from his old home. He then lived for, three years on the farm just west of his father's place and then went to the "Jot" Caldwell farm two and one-half miles west of Falmouth, over in Rush county, and a year later moved to a farm five and one-half miles northwest of Falmouth, where he lived for a couple of years, at the end of which time, in the spring of 1911, he bought his present well-improved farm of one hundred and six acres and has since made his home there, he and his family being very comfortably and very pleasantly situated.
On December 24, 1902, Murl D. Cummins was united in marriage to Rhoda Suter, who was born in Owen county, Kentucky, a daughter of John and Mary (Morrow) Suter, both of whom were born and reared in that same county and who still reside there, Mr. Suter being a well-to-do farmer. Mr. Cummins was making a visit to his kinsfolk in Kentucky when he met the girl who later became his wife. To this union four children have been born, Juanita, Murl Garnet, Donald and Webb. Mrs. Cummins is a member of the Baptist church and Mr. Cummins is a member of the Methodist church. They take a proper part in the general social activities of the community in which they live and are helpful factors in the advancement of all worthy causes thereabout.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
John L. Byrne, farmer and landowner of Waterloo township, this county, and for years manager of the Joseph. M. Sutcliffe estate in that township, is a native of the neighboring state of Ohio, but has been a resident of Indiana since the days of his childhood and has lived in the house in which he is now living, the old Sutcliffe home, in Waterloo township, for the past fifty-four years. He was born in Butler county, Ohio, not far from the city of Hamilton, February 2, 1856, a son of Patrick and Mary (McCardle) Byrne, who later came to Indiana and located at Brownsville, in Union county.
Patrick Byrne was born in Ireland and there grew to manhood, coming then to the United States and proceeding on out into Ohio, where he married Mary McCardle, American born, who had grown up in the vicinity of Hamilton. When the subject of this sketch was about four years of age, Patrick Byrne and his family moved to Indiana and located at Brownsville; in Union county, where Patrick Byrne died a year later, leaving his widow with four small children, one of whom still was a babe in arms. These children, with the exception of the baby, were taken care of in the households of kind-hearted neighbors and John L. Byrne was taken in the household of Joseph M. Sutcliffe, a substantial farmer and landowner of Waterloo township, this county.
John L. Byrne was not yet six years of age when his father died and when he was taken into the Sutcliffe home and there he grew to manhood, a valued aid in the labors of improving and developing the place. After the death of Mr. Sutcliffe in 1882 he continued to make his home there, remaining with Mrs. Sutcliffe and looking after the operation of the farm, and after his marriage in 1885 established his home there, where he ever since has resided, a continuous resident of that place and living in the same house for a period of fifty-four years. In addition to looking after the Sutcliffe farm in the interest of the heirs to the same, Mr. Byrne also owns a farm of his own in that neighborhood and is looked upon as one of the substantial citizens of that community.
As noted above, it was in 1885 that John L. Byrne was united in marriage to Alice N. Holland, who was born in Waterloo township, a daughter of William A. and Mary A. Holland and a sister of James F. Holland, a biographical sketch of whom .is set out elsewhere in this volume, and to this union three children were born, two of whom died in infancy. The surviving child, a daughter, Edith, married Basil Bell, a farmer living in that same neighborhood, and has one child, a son, John Howard. Mrs. Alice Byrne died in January, 1915. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is Mr. Byrne, and was ever devoted to good works. Mr. Byrne is a good farmer, progressive in his methods, and has done well in his operations.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
Levi N. Green, one of the best-known and most substantial farmers of Waterloo township, this county, is a native Hoosier, born in the neighboring county of Wayne, but has been a resident of Fayette county since the days of his childhood and has thus been a witness to and a participant in the development of this county during the past half century and more. He was born on May 1, 1854, son of William and Martha (Cross) Green, natives of Maryland, who became residents of Indiana in the days of their childhood and whose last days were spent in this county.
William Green was born near the city of Baltimore and was about tell years of age, when, in the early thirties, his parents came out to Indiana and established their home on a farm near Milton, in Wayne county. There William Green grew to manhood, that period of his life between the ages of sixteen and twenty-three being spent as a teamster and drover to and from Cincinnati, in which he developed quite a business. Old settlers still living are authority for the statement that William Green walked from Cincinnati to his home in Wayne county, returning from a drover's trip, in one day, which still stands as the record for pedestrianism in the pioneer annals of this part of the state. William Green married Martha Cross, who also was born in Delaware, a daughter of Levi Cross and wife, the latter of whom was a Davis, who moved from Delaware to Ohio and thence to Indiana, and some years later, about 1858, came over into Fayette county and established his home in Waterloo township, later becoming an extensive landowner in that part of the county. His death occurred in 1893. He and his wife were the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters, two of whom are deceased, namely: Mrs. Samantha Crawford, who was born in 1850 and who died when she was about twenty-five years of age, and Susanna, who died in 1902. The surviving children, besides the subject of this sketch, are George, William and Anna, who live in Connersville.
Levi N. Green was but four or five years of age when his parents moved from Wayne county to Fayette county and he grew to manhood in Waterloo township, where he ever since has lived, a life-long farmer. He has interests in eight hundred acres of land and is regarded as one of the most substantial farmers in that part of the county. He has a well-improved place, with a good house and a fine, large barn and he and his wife have ever taken an earnest part in the general social activities of the neighborhood, helpful in advancing all worthy causes. Mrs. Green is a woman of education and refinement and the Green home has ever been noted for its hospitality and good cheer.
On December 30, 1886, Levi N. Green was united in marriage to Christina Spencer, who was born at Oxford, Ohio, daughter of Franklin and Catherine (McArthur) Spencer, both born in that same city, the former of whom, an architect and builder, moved from Ohio to Indiana and later to Louisiana, where he died in March, 1907, and where his widow is still living. She is the daughter of the Rev. John D. McArthur, a Presbyterian clergyman, a former professor of Greek and Hebrew in Miami University, at Oxford and who for some time served as president of that institution. Mr. and Mrs. Green have seven children living, namely: Roy Levi, who was graduated from Purdue University and who is now in the employ of the state, as a traveling inspector of stock feed and fertilizers; Albert Spencer, who also was graduated from Purdue and is now teaching school at Henderson, Kentucky, married Neva Coleman, of Sale Creek, in Hamilton county, Tennessee, and has one child, a daughter, Geneva; Otta, who was graduated from the University of Wisconsin and is now teaching school at Quincy, Illinois; Marcia Hazel, who is at home; Howard Franklin, Isabel Samantha and Lawrence Lincoln, also at home. Mrs. Green and her daughters, Otta and Marcia, are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and the family has ever been devoted to local good works.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
It was in 1828 that the Sutcliffe family came into the then "wilds" of Fayette county and founded a home in Waterloo township, a home which is still in the possession of the family. The founder of this branch of the Sutcliffe family in Indiana was a Methodist clergyman, the Rev. John Sutcliffe, who, strangely enough, left his native England as a "stowaway" upon his departure for America. That was in 1812. Upon his arrival in this country he located in Kentucky, but in 1828 left that state with his family and came to Indiana, locating in Fayette county, where he spent the remainder of his life, one of the most substantial and influential pioneer residents of the northeastern part of the county.
The Rev. John Sutcliffe was born in England, where he received an excellent education and where he became a minister of the Methodist church. He was trained as a reedmaker, a member of the guild which had in charge the making of the reeds for the old looms of that period, and members of which guild, in order to protect the weaving industry, were forbidden by the British government from leaving that country. John Sutcliffe, however, determined to get out of the country and to go to the United States, where he was sure better opportunities awaited craftsmen. He had a friend who was the captain of a vessel sailing to America and to this captain he confided his design. The captain told him if he could stow himself away on board so securely as to evade the government inspection of the vessel before sailing, after the point of final inspection had been passed all would be well, that he then should have the unmolested privileges of the vessel. In order to get on board the vessel John Sutcliffe insinuated himself into the gang of stevedores who were loading the vessel and presently was thus able to stow himself away securely in the hold, where he remained until after final inspection of the vessel had been made, when he reveiled himself to the captain and the balance of the voyage was made in comfort. He had taken the precaution to pack his reed-making tools, upon the exportation of which the government also had an interdiction, in a firkin of butter, which he had openly shipped aboard the vessel on which he stowed himself away, and thus safely smuggled his valued tools out of the country for use in the new home he thought to set up in the New World. Upon his arrival in this country he proceeded to Kentucky and located in Fayette county, in the neighborhood of Lexington. There he presently was joined by his wife, Mary, to whom, upon his arrival here, he had at once imparted the news of his safe arrival, and the new home was set up in Kentucky, where he began working at his trade and where he also soon gained more than a local reputation as a minister of the Methodist church. In 1828 the Rev. John Sutcliffe and family left Kentucky and came to Indiana, settling in Waterloo township, this county, where he and his wife spent their last-days, his death occurring in 1843, he then being about sixty years of age. His wife had preceded him to the grave some years previously. They were the parents of ten children, of whom Joseph M. Sutcliffe was the youngest son and the ninth in order of birth.
Joseph M. Sutcliffe was born in Fayette county, Kentucky, in 1821, and was about seven years of age when he came to this county with his parents, the family settling in Waterloo township, where he spent the rest of his life, becoming one of the most influential residents of that part of the county. He received an excellent education for that period and ever took an active part in public affairs, serving for years as a member of the board of county commissioners. After his marriage in 1842 he established his home in Waterloo township and became a well-to-do farmer. For more than forty years he was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church and he and his wife were ever active in local good works. On his home farm in Waterloo township, Joseph M. Sutcliffe died in 1882. His widow survived him for about nine years, her death occurring in 1891. She was born, Cynthia Ann Robinson, in Fayette county, daughter of Matthew and Eleanor Robinson, the former of whom was born in Morgantown, Virginia, in 1781, and who, in 1841, came with his family to Indiana and settled in Waterloo township, this county, where he spent the rest of his life. He was one of the founders of Robinson Chapel Methodist Episcopal church. His death occurred not long after he came to this county and his widow survived him until 1864, she being eighty-four years of age at the time of her death. Mrs. Sutcliffe was a woman of refinement and was a zealous worker in the Methodist Episcopal church.
To Joseph M. and Cynthia Ann (Robinson) Sutcliffe four children were born, two of whom died in infancy, the survivors being Dr. John A. Sutcfiffe, a surgeon, of Indianapolis, and Emma, who is still living on the old home place in Waterloo township, widow of Isaac J. Doddridge. It was in June, 1877, that Emma Sutcliffe was united in marriage to Isaac J. Doddridge, who was born in the neighboring county of Wayne, where he grew to manhood. After his marriage he located in Waterloo township, on the place where Mrs. Doddridge lives now. He was a life-long farmer and became the owner of a farm of eighty acres. His death occurred in 1909 and since then Mrs. Doddridge has continued to make her home on the farm where she now lives and where she has lived since she was four years of age. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as was her husband.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
James Ludlow, one of Fayette county's best-known farmers, proprietor of a fine farm in the southwestern part of Harrison township and an honored veteran of the Civil War, was born in this county and has lived here all his life. He was born in Harrison township on August 8, 1840, a son of Samuel B. and Hannah (Campbell) Ludlow, natives of Cayuga county, New York, who were married in that county and in 1819 came out here to the then "wilds'' of Indiana and settled in Rush county. There Samuel B. Ludlow entered a tract of land from the government, but a short time later moved over into Fayette county and bought a farm in the southeast quarter of section 9 of Harrison township, where he made his home until 1856, when he bought another farm in the northwest quarter of section 8 of that same township and on that latter place spent his last days, his death occurring in 1891, he then being nearly eighty-two years of age. His widow survived him for some years, she being nearly ninety years of age at the time of her death. They were the parents of twelve children, six sons and six daughters, all of whom grew to maturity, but all of whom are now deceased save the subject of this biographical sketch and his sister, Anna, wife of Welborn Caldwell.
James Ludlow grew to manhood, in Harrison township and remained with his parents, a valued aid in the labors of the home farm until August, 1861, when he enlisted as a private in Company H, Thirty-sixth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and went to the front with that command, serving his full term of three years. The Thirty-sixth Indiana was attached to the Army of the Cumberland and Mr. Ludlow saw some of the most vigorous action of the war, including the battle of Stone's River, the battle of Chickamauga, the battle of Chattanooga and other engagements in which his regiment participated, and was in the one hundred-days campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta, participating in the siege of the latter city. While there his term of enlistment expired and he received his honorable discharge. During his three years of arduous service Mr. Ludlow received but one wound and that a minor wound at the battle of Chickamauga. Of the company of one hundred men who went out with Company H when the Thirty-sixth Indiana started for the front, Mr. Ludlow and Stephen White, of Everton, are the only members now living in Fayette county. Mr. Ludlow is an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has ever taken an earnest interest in the affairs of his local post and in those of the Department of Indiana in general.
Upon the completion of his military service James Ludlow returned to the home farm in this county and there remained, continuing to help his father in the work of the farm, until his marriage in 1875, when he started farming for himself on land he rented from his father, in section 9 of Harrison township, where he remained until 1886, when he moved to his present place in section 18, in the southwestern part of Harrison township, where he ever since has lived. On that place, in 1887, he erected a new house, which has since been his place of residence and where he and his wife are very comfortably situated.
Mr. Ludlow has been twice married. In January, 1875, he was united in marriage to Lucy Wymore, who was born in Montgomery county, Kentucky, a daughter of David and Cynthia (Willoughby) Wymore, who moved from Kentucky to Indiana in the winter of 1864-65 and settled in Harrison township, this county, but later moved to Iowa. Mrs. Lucy Ludlow died in 1901, without issue, and in March, 1906, Mr. Ludlow married Mrs. Angelina (Noel) John, who was born near Georgetown, Kentucky, a daughter of James and Sarah (Bailey) Noel, both natives of Kentucky. Angelina Noel came to Indiana when sixteen years of age, with the family of George Stewart, settling in Connersville, and lived with the Stewarts there for nine years, or until her marriage to Wesley John, who was born in this county and was reared on a farm a mile west of Connersville, a son of Greenup and Janet (Hines) John. members of old families here, Greenup John's father, Jonathan John, having come here during the early days of the settlement of this part of the state and entering a tract of land from the government about where the city of Connersville now is located. Wesley John farmed nearly all his life on the farm where he was born, but spent the last seven years of his life on a farm he had bought near Bunker Hill, west of Connersville, where he died in 1903, without issue. Mr. and Mrs. Ludlow take an earnest interest in general local affairs in the community in which they live and are helpful in promoting all movements having to do with the advancement of the common welfare.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
John Alfred Strong, one of Harrison township's well-known and substantial farmers, is a native son of Fayette county, but was reared over the line in the neighboring county of Union, returning to this county and locating on the farm on which he is now living, three miles north of Connersville, in 1905, the year following his marriage, and has since made his home there. He was born on a pioneer farm in Waterloo township, this county, September 20, 1860, son of Wilson and Eliza (Fiant) Strong, both members of the pioneer families, the former of whom was born on that same farm, and both of whom are now deceased.
Wilson Strong was born on a farm north of Springersville, in the southeastern part of Waterloo township, a son of Richard Strong and wife, who came to Indiana from Maryland about 1821 and settled on the farm just noted, in this county, thus being numbered among the early settlers of this county. Richard Strong was of Irish descent, his grandfather having come from the Emerald Isle. On that pioneer farm Wilson Strong grew to manhood. He married Eliza Fiant, who was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, but who had come to this county with her parents when a child, the Fiants being among the old settlers of the county. Some years after. his marriage Wilson Strong moved over the line into Union county and located at Brownsville, where he became engaged-as a mechanic and wagonmaker and in the immediate vicinity of which place he also owned a farm. During the Civil War, Wilson Strong enlisted for service in the Ohio Heavy Artillery, but was later transferred to one of the Indiana infantry regiments and seryed for three years during the struggle between the states. He died in 1886 and his widow survived until 1902.
John A. Strong was but a child when his parents moved to Brownsville and there he grew to manhood, taking an active part in the labors of his father's farm from boyhood, and has farmed all his life. In 1905, the year following his marriage, he located on the farm on which he is now living, in Harrison township, three miles north of Connersville, and has since made that place his home, he and his family being quite comfortably situated there. Mr. Strong has a well-kept and well-improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres and is doing very well in his farming operations, being regarded as one of the progressive and substantial farmers of that neighborhood.
On March 9, 1904, John A. Strong was united in marriage to Emma D. Hamilton, who was born on a farm on the southern edge of the neighboring county of Wayne, west of Beeson, daughter of Thomas and Martha Comfort (Newbold) Hamilton, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Delaware, who came to Indiana with their respective parents in the days of their youth, the two families settling in the Connersville neighborhood. Thomas Hamilton was born near Georgetown, Kentucky, in 1810, a son of Alexander and Rebecca Hamilton, pioneers of that section. Alexander Hamilton was with Dick Johnson when the latter shot and killed the great Indian leader, Tecumseh, and served as a soldier during the War of 1812. Before 1820 he moved with his family up into Indiana and settled at Connersville, which at that time was but a small collection of rude log houses in the woods along the riverside. It was there that Thomas Hamilton grew to manhood. He started a hotel at Connersville and while thus engaged, July 6, 1838, married Martha Comfort Newbold, who was born in Sussex county, Delaware, October 6, 1813, daughter of Francis and Comfort (Rodney) Newhold, who moved from Delaware to Kentucky and thence, seven years later, up into Indiana, their daughter, Martha, then being twelve years of age, and settled on a farm west of Connersville, where, and in Connersville, the daughter, Martha, grew to womanhood. Francis Newbold was married thrice and his daughter, Martha, was the youngest of the five children born to his first wife. Years after coming to this county Francis Newbold moved over into Rush county and there spent his last days. For thirty-five years Thomas Hamilton was engaged in the hotel business at Connersville, his first hotel having been located on the east side of Central avenue, opposite the court house. From that site he moved to what later was called the Buckley Hotel, at the northeast corner of Eastern avenue and Fifth street. He and his wife were admirable hotel keeps and did a good business. It is a matter of recollection among old settlers that they had the first cook stove brought to Connersville and Mrs. Hamilton had a great reputation as a cook, her personal attention bestowed upon the kitchen of the hotel insuring to travelers the best of viands. About 1853 the Hamiltons moved to Cambridge City, where they took the contract for boarding the men engaged in grading and graveling the National road, which was being constructed through this part of the state at that time, and two years later they moved to a farm west of Beeson, on the southern edge of Wayne county, where Mrs. Strong was born. Later they moved to the Elijah Hurst farm, in that same vicinity, and there Thomas Hamilton died in 1864, he then being fifty-four years of age. His widow survived him many years, her death occurring on October 7, 1898. Thomas Hamilton and wife were the parents of eight children, all of whom lived to maturity save one who died at the age of eighteen months and all the others of whom are still living save Alexander, William and John A., who died on October 16, 1916, those of the survivors besides Mrs. Strong, the youngest, being Mrs. Rebecca Taylor, of Germantown; Mrs. Mary Hearkless, of Elwood, and Robert H. Hamilton, of Wayne county.
Mr. and Mrs. Strong have one child, a son, Charles Hamilton Strong, born on June 16, 1905. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the various beneficences of which they take a proper interest, as well as in the general social activities of the community in which they live. Mr. Strong is a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization. He is a public-spirited citizen and takes a good citizen's interest in all movements having to do with the promotion of the best interests of the community.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
Leonidas A. Kline, one of the substantial farmers and landowners of Waterloo township, this county, and former trustee of that township, was born on the farm on which he is now living and has lived there the greater part of his life. He was born on September 15, 1863, son of Abraham and Caroline (Grindle) Kline, both natives of this state, the former born in this county and the latter born in Grant county, whose last days were spent in Huntington county, this state.
Abraham Kline was born in Waterloo township, this county, a son of Daniel and Catherine (Weichey) Kline, naaives of Pennsylvania, who came out to Indiana in 1825 and settled in Fayette county, among the earliest settlers of Waterloo township, becoming useful and influential pioneers of that part of the county. Daniel Kline was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, about 1791, a son of Isaac Kline, of German stock, and there grew to manhood. He married Catherine Weichey, also of German stock, and in 1825 drove through to Indiana, with a view to establishing a home in the then "wilds" of Fayette county. Upon his arrival here Daniel Kline bought a quarter of a section of land in Waterloo township and there he and his wife reared their family, becoming prosperous farmers. He was an active member of the German Baptist church and did much in the way of promoting better things in the pioneer community in which he settled. There Mrs. Catherine Kline died on October 6, 1862. She was a devoted member of the Christian church. Some time after the death of his wife, Daniel Kline moved to Huntington county, this state, where he spent his last days, his death occurring on May 27, 1873.
On that pioneer farm in Waterloo township, where he was born, Abraham Kline grew to manhood, a valued aid in the labors of improving and developing the same. He married Caroline Grindle, who was born in Grant county, daughter of Samuel and Caroline Grindle, who lived and died in that county, and in 1872 moved to Huntington county, this state, where he established his home on a farm and where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on October 11, 1896. His widow, who continued to make her home in Huntington county, survived him for more than ten years, her death occurring on July 8, 1907.
Leonidas A. Kline was about nine years of age when his parents moved to Huntington county and there he made his home, assisting his father in the labors of the farm, until his marriage in the spring of 1888, when he returned to the old home farm in Waterloo township, this county, where he was born, and there has made his home ever since, one of the substantial and progressive farmers of that community. He is the owner of three hundred and fifty-nine acres of excellent land in that township and has done very well in his farming operations. Mr. Kline is a Democrat and has ever given a good citizen's attention to local political affairs and for four years served the public in the capacity of township trustee, his term of office expiring in 1904.
In the spring of 1888, while living in Huntington county, Leonidas A. Kline was united in marriage to Olive Guthrie, who was born and reared in that county, a daughter of John and Martha (Hunter) Guthrie, who lived and died on a farm in that county, and to this union nine children have been born, namely: Elsie, who married Joseph Little and lives in Connersville; Paul, a farmer, of Waterloo township, who married Fay Davidson and has one child, a daughter, Helen; Ruth, who is a member of Fayette county's efficient public-school teaching force, and Ralph, Ross, Carl, Harold, Caroline and Mary, who are at home with their parents. The Klines have a very pleasant home and have ever taken a proper part in the social activities of the community in which they live, helpful in advancing all good works thereabout. Mr. Kline is a member of the Masonic fraternity and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that ancient order.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917