Charles M. Stone was born on a pioneer farm a short distance west of the village of Alpine, in this county, in 1821, his father, a native of Rhode Island and a soldier in the patriot army during the Revolutionary War, having settled there at an early day in the settlement of this county. When Charles M. Stone was twelve years of age his father was killed by a log rolling on him while working in the timber. His mother married again and he remained on the home farm until his marriage, when he took over the management of the farm of his wife's father, the old Carver farm just east of Harrisburg, and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. In 1861 Charles M. Stone built the substantial brick residence on that place, now owned and occupied by Charles Bell, and which house still stands as one of the best houses in that part of the county. Charles M. Stone was an active Republican, for years looked upon as one of the leaders of his party in this county, and for two terms represented this district in the Indiana state Legislature. He died at his home in Harrison township on May 9, 1889, and his widow survived him many years, her death occurring in 1907. She was born, Lovisa Carver, at Cayuga Lake, New York, a daughter of Elijah Carver and wife, who came here in pioneer days and settled on the farm above referred to just east of Harrisburg, the farm on which the subject of this sketch was born. Elijah Carver was a descendant of Gov. Jonathan Carver, who came over in the "Mayflower," and was for years one of the influential residents of Harrison township, his death occurring there many years ago. Charles M. Stone and wife had three children who grew to maturity and who are still living, namely: Edwin M., the subject of this biographical sketch; Mrs. Eliza A. Florea, of Texas, and Mrs. Katherine Florea Broaddus.
Edwin M. Stone was reared on the farm on which he was born, receiving his schooling in the neighboring school, and remained there until his marriage, in the spring of 1870, when he located in Connersville, where he engaged in the livery business and later engaged in the retail meat business, remaining there until the spring of 1881, when he moved to his present home, a farm three and one-half miles northwest of Connersville, where he has since lived and where he and his family are very pleasantly and very comfortably situated. In addition to his general farming, Mr. Stone has given much attention to the raising of pure-bred cattle and a picture of a bunch of his fine stock is presented on another page in this volume, as an example of the fine quality of cattle raised in Fayette county. Mr. Stone is a Republican and has ever given his earnest attention to local political affairs. During his residence in Connersville he served for some time as a member of the city council from his ward and after moving to his farm was elected county assessor, being the first man elected to that office in Fayette county after the enactment of the law creating the office in the early nineties. Mr. Stone is an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic and takes an earnest interest in the affairs of the local post. When about eighteen years of age, November 9, 1863, he enlisted as a private in Companv A, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered out with that command on August 31, 1865, after having participated in much active service under the command of Gen. George H. Thomas in the Army of the Cumberland.
Mr. Stone has been twice married. On May 5, 1870, he was united in marriage to Indiana White, who was born on a farm near Bunker Hill, west of Connersville, in this county, a daughter of Hamilton White, who was reared in this county and who had moved onto that farm after a sometime residence in Connersville, where he had been engaged as a painter. To that union eight children were born, two of whom died in infancy and six of whom are still living, namely: Lillie, who married Wilfred Frazee, of Hendricks county, this state, and has one child, a daughter, Mary; Charles, who lives on a farm one mile north of his father's place, and who married Mary Powell and has two children, Josephine and Helen; Homer P., who married Ella Johnson and is now ranching in Texas; Minnie I., who married Amos Kerr, by which marriage she has a son, Ralph Kerr, and after whose death she married Webb Ensminger and is now living on a farm in the western part of Harrison township; Clinton Stone, of Connersville, who married Lillie Frazier and has one child, a son, Edwin M. and Evaline, who married Scott Caldwell and has two children, Joseph and Helen Louise. Mrs. Indiana Stone died on February 20, 1895, and on March 2, 1897, Mr. Stone married Mrs. Frances E. Shera (Fattig) Ridge, who was born near Oxford, Ohio, a daughter of John and Mary (Duke) Fattig, the former of whom was born in Virginia and who came to Indiana with his parents, Jacob and Frances Fattig, when he was a child, the family settling in Henry county. When he was about eighteen years of age John Fattig located at Connersville, where he presently married Mary Duke, who was born near Oxford, Ohio, daughter of John and Eliza (Shera) Duke, natives of Ireland, who had come to this country and had located on a farm in the vicinity of Oxford, in Butler county, Ohio. John Fattig was a carpenter and he and his wife spent their last days in Connersville, where their daughter, Frances, grew to womanhood and where she married Horace Ridge, a native of Ripley county, this state, a well-known school teacher of this county, who had also taught school in Union county, and who died in 1892, leaving one child, a son, Albert Ridge, who died in childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Stone have a very pleasant farm house and take a warm interest in the general social activities of the community in which they live, ever helpful in promoting all agencies having to do with the advancement of the common welfare thereabout.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
William H. Thompson, a well-known and substantial farmer of Posey township, this county, for many years assessor of that township, former postmaster of Bentonville, where for years he was engaged in the mercantile business and before that time a blacksmith in that village, is a native son of Fayette county and has lived here all his life. He was born in the village of Harrisburg on June 7, 1848, son of Charles and Mary (Caldwell) Thompson, the former of whom was born in Marion county, this state, and the latter in this county.
Charles Thompson was born in 1828 in Marion county, Indiana, where his parents had settled upon coming to this state from Kentucky, and in his youth came to this county and at Harrisburg learned the blacksmith trade in the shop of Stephen Thomas, where he worked until about 1854, when he moved to Bentonville aid there started a blacksmith shop of his own, which he continued to operate, off and on, for fifty years; in the meantime buying a small farm in that vicinity, farming when not actively engaged in blacksmithing, and spent the rest of his life at or near Bentonville, dying there on October 13, 1901. His wife, Mary Caldwell, was born in Harrison township, this county, November 12, 1825, and died on May 23, 1895, and was a daughter of Judge Train Caldwell (born February 17, 1778), and his wife, Elizabeth Dehaven (born August 31, 1781), the latter of whom was a Dehaven. Judge Train Caldwell was the first circuit judge in Fayette county and he had a son, James Caldwell, who for some time served as clerk of the court. Charles and Mary (Caldwell) Thompson were the parents of five children, two of whom died in infancy and the others of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having a brother, George Thompson, and a sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Rea, widow of Benjamin F. Rea.
William H. Thompson has spent most of his life in Posey township. About 1872, shortly after his marriage, he began barking at the blacksmith trade with his father at Bentonville and later became a partner of his father in that business and still later a partner, in the same line, with Edward Barker, continuing thus engaged at blacksmithing for about fifteen years, at the end of which time, in the fall of 1887, he embarked in the mercantile business at Bentonville and was shortly afterward made postmaster of that village, continuing as merchant and postmaster there until the spring of 1897, when he moved to the farm on which he is now living, in the northern part of Posey township, and has lived there ever since, quite successfully engaged in farming and stock raising. Mr. Thompson is a lifelong Democrat and has ever taken a warm interest in local political affairs. In 1900 he was elected assessor of Posey township and by successive elections has held that office ever since, a period of nearly eighteen years. He is a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Falmouth, Indiana. and has for years taken a warm interest in the affairs of that popular organization.
Mr. Thompson has been twice married. On September 11, 1870, he was united in marriage to Lucinda Hatfield, who was born near the city of Ft. Wayne, in Allen county, this state, a daughter of Owen Hatfield and wife, and who died on March 29, 1876, leaving two children, Charles and Oscar. Another son, Harry, born to that union died when about one year of age. Charles Thompson, who lives on his farm one mile north of Bentonville, married Clara Kemmer and has one child, a son, Russell. Oscar Thompson, who owns a farm about three miles north of Richmond, in the neighboring county of Wayne, where he makes his home, married Sadie Hicks. On September 5, 1877, Mr. Thompson married, secondly, Anna E. Lamberson, who was born on a farm in the northwest part of Posey township, this county, a daughter of Samuel and Demaris (Overturf) Lamberson, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Ohio, who were pioneers in this county. The Lambersons and the Overturfs were originally from Maryland and came into this state from Kentucky. To this second union three children have been born, namely: Walter, now living at Falmouth, who married Emma Bowles and has two children, Lorraine and Wayne; Mamie L., who married John Mallory, a farmer living near the village of Dublin, and has two daughters, Effie and Georgia, and Samuel, living near Germantown, who married Catherine Mueller and has one child, a daughter, Margaret Helene. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have a pleasant home and are very comfortably situated. They have ever given proper attention to the good works of the community in which they live and are helpful in promoting all worthy local causes.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
Edward P. Hawkins was born November 10, 1881, in Connersville, Indiana, and up to the present time (1917) he has spent his life in his native city. His parents were Edward W. and Margaret (Pratt) Hawkins. His mother was born in the state of New York. but the father, like the son, is a native Indianian, and a sketch of his life appears elsewhere in this history.
The junior Hawkins received his common and high school education in the Connersville public schools. After he was graduated from the high school in 1898, he, at once, went to work in his father's factory. For nineteen years he has devoted his energies to the upbuilding and the extension of the business which his father had established in 1882, under the name of the Connersville Furniture Company. In 1901 he was made secretary of the company, and in 1910 he became assistant general manager. At the present time, he holds both positions and accomplishes the work of each with characteristic promptness and industry.
During the winter of 1916-1917 Mr. Hawkins founded the National Moorish Tile Flooring Factory and became the first president of the company. It opened for business in February, 1917, and promises to become one of the city's most substantial institutions. Though Mr. Hawkins has been very earnestly and continuously occupied with industrial activities, he has never neglected to do his part in the working out of the civic problems which present themselves to the attention of every public-spirited citizen. As president of the Commercial Club for the past two years, he has accomplished much in furthering the general welfare of the city of his birth. Being a man of action, he throws his power and personality into everything he undertakes and stays with it to the "finish". A striking example of this fact is his remarkably successful management of the Fayette county centennial celebration of 1916. For five months in the spring and summer of that year he devoted practically all his time to planning and putting into execution the hundred and one details which resulted in the community having the best county celebration in the state.
It is proper in this connection to mention that on account of his intelligent and conservative management of public affairs, he was chosen as one of the governors of the Hoosier Dixie Highway Association. In general, it is thoroughly understood by all who know him that any and everything which he feels will be of benefit to his city or to the public at large, will receive from him a hearty, enthusiastic and intelligent support.
Politically, Mr. Hawkins is affiliated with the Republican party. His fraternal relations include membership in several national organizations the Odd Fellows. Elks, Moose, Travelers' Protective Association, Eagles, Red Men and Knights of Pythias. He is also a member of the Greek letter fraternity of Phi Delta Kappa, the Columbia Club of Indianapolis, the Indiana Press Club, the Cincinnati Auto Club. the Cincinnati Country Club, the Newcastle Country Club, the Hoosier Automobile Association and several other similar organizations. In keeping with the spirit that prompts those in power to give just recognition to meritorious energy, Governor Goodrich appointed Mr. Hawkins as a member of his staff, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
Mr. Hawkins was married, October 5, 1904, to Miss Marie Kimball. She is a daughter of Judge Eben W. and Frances (Bender) Kimball and was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her father was a native of Massachusetts and her mother of Michigan. Judge Kimball is still living; his wife passed away in April, 1916. Mrs. Hawkins has one brother, Fletcher Kimball. Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins have one son, Edward K. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
In every community there are men who are leaders. It has always been thus and it will always be. They may possess no more native ability than those with whom they mingle and associate, but somehow, someway, they are gifted with special qualities that win for them honor and preferment. Such a man is Edward P. Hawkins.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
Oliver Porter Myers, a well-known and substantial farmer of Posey township, this county, and the proprietor of a fine farm of nearly two hundred acres at the south edge of that township, where he and his family are very comfortably and very pleasantly situated, is a native son of Fayette county and has lived here all his life. He was born on the old Huston homestead farm in Posey township on Novemher 4, 1884, son and only child of Calvin and Mary Laura (Manlove) Myers, the latter of whom is still living on her well-kept farm south of Bentonville.
The late Calvin Myers also was a native of this section of Indiana, having been born on a pioneer farm two and one-half miles south of Cambridge City, in the neighboring county of Wayne, August 4, 1855, second son of Michael and Elizabeth (Ferris) Myers, the former of whom was born in that same neighborhood, a son of Gideon and Catherine (Crull) Myers, early settlers of that community. Gideon Myers came to this state from Pennsylvania and established a tannery and harness-making shop in the lower part of Wayne county, where he spent the rest of his life. His son, Michael K. Myers, became a farmer and live-stock dealer and lived on a farm south of the village of Dublin until 1879, when he moved to Qttumwa, in Osage county, Kansas, moving thence presently to Ottumwa, in Coffey county, same state, where he farmed and spent the rest of his life, his death occurring there in October, 1908. His widow, who was born Elizabeth A. Ferris, near the village of Milton, in Wayne county, this state, a daughter of Joseph and Deborah (Atwell) Ferris, died on February 9, 1911. Their son, Calvin Myers, was reared on the home farm and there lived until after he had reached his majority. On October 9, 1877, he married Mary L. Manlove, who was born on the old Manlove farm, two and one-half miles southeast of Bentonville, only daughter of William and Margaret (Munger) Manlove, both members of pioneer families in that section of the county and further and fitting mention of which families is made elsewhere in this volume. On December 10, 1877, he and his wife began housekeeping on the old Myers homestead place, and there remained until November 20, 1880, when they moved to a farm one mile south of Bentonville, where Calvin Myers spent his last days, his death occurring there on February 17, 1906, he then being fifty years of age, and where his widow is still living, the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres one mile west of the place where she was born.
Oliver Porter Myers lived on the farm on which he was born until after his marriage in 1905 and shortly afterward took possession of the farm of one hundred and ninety-eight acres in the southern part of Posey township, where he established his home and where he has ever since lived. Mr. Myers is a progressive farmer and a member of the Connersville Commercial Club, ever giving his thoughtful attention to any movement designed to advance the common welfare of the community at large. He and his wife have a delightful home and are regarded as among the leaders in the general social activities of the community in which they live. Mrs. Myers is a member of the Christian church at Bentonville and is active in the work of the Missionary Society of that church, as well as in the work of the Women's Club of the Bentonville community and of the Mothers' Club in that vicinity, helpful in advancing all good movements thereabout. Mr. and Mrs. Myers have two children, Garnet Elnora, born on February 5, 1907, and Willard Calvin, March 19, 1913.
As noted above, it was on October 18, 1905, that Oliver Porter Myers was united in marriage to Mary Elizabeth Overhiser, who was born on a farm one mile north of Bentonville, this county, on May 9, 1887, a daughter of Willard and Ellen (Kemmer) Overhiser, both of whom also were born in this county and who are still living on their farm north of Bentonville, where Mrs. Myers was born and where she lived until her marriage. Willard Overhiser, an honored veteran of the Civil War and former trustee of Posey township, is a native of this county, as noted above, born in Fairview township on November 1, 1841, son of George and Elizabeth (Storms) Overhiser, the former of whom, born in Otsego county, New York, August 21, 1804, was a son of John Casper and Mary (Near) Overhiser and a grandson of Conrad and Mary (Story) Overhiser. John Casper Overhiser was twice married and by his first marriage was the father of two children and by his second, eighteen. In 1826, in New York state, George Overhiser married Elizabeth Storms, who was born in that state on June 30, 1807, a daughter of Peter and Dorcas (Ballard) Storms and a granddaughter of Thomas and Asenath Ballard, and in 1838 he and his family came out to Indiana and settled in Fairview township, this county, remaining there until about 1842, when he moved to Hancock county and then, a couple of years later, to Blackford county, where his father-in-law, Peter Storms, had entered a tract of government land, and in that county he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, her death occurring in 1860 and his in 1862. They were the parents of thirteen children, nine of whom are still living, but of whom Willard Overhiser is the only one residing in this county.
Willard Overhiser learned the carpenter trade in his youth and was working at that trade when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted as a private in the Thirty-fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, attached to the Thirteenth Army Corps, and with that command served until mustered out on February 3, 1866. During that long period of service he participated in seine of the most stirring engagements of the war, including the siege of Vicksburg, and in Texas took part in the last battle of the war, fought on May 13, 1865, after Lee had surrendered. Upon the completion of his military service, Mr. Overhiser resumed his work as a carpenter and worked in various parts of Fayette and Wayne counties, until after his marriage in 1873, when he located at Cambridge City, where he remained until in November of 1879, when he returned to this county and settled on the farm one mile north of Bentonville, where he has made his home ever since. Mr. Overhiser was three times elected trustee of his home township, serving in that capacity for a period of ten years. He is an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the present commander of the post of that patriotic order at Cambridge City, and is affiliated with the Masonic order.
In.1873 Willard Overhiser was united in marriage to Elizabeth E. Kemmer, who was born in Posey township, this county, February 17, 1854, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Campbell.) Kemmer, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of this county. Samuel Kemmer was born in Bracken county, Kentucky; September 27, 1823, son of John and Sarah (Overturf) Kemmer, the former of whom was a son of Nicholas and Sarah (Pholer) Kemmer, whose last days were spent in this county. Nicholas Kemmer, a native of Germany, emigrated to this country when about eighteen years of age and was living at Boston when the famous "Boston tea party" marked the beginning of the struggle of the colonies for independence, he having been one of the patriots dressed as Indians, who threw the tea overboard from a British vessel in the harbor as a protest against what the colonists declared to be unjust taxation. He later served as a soldier during the Revolutionary War and was at Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered to Washington, his position in the ranks during that historic incident being such that he was able to observe the two generals in conference. After the close of the war he settled in Lancaster. county, Pennsylvania, and there married Sarah Pholer. Later he moved to Kentucky and in 1833 came from that state up into Indiana and settled in Posey township, this county, where he died in 1839.
John Kemmer, one of the eight children born to Nicholas Kemmer and wife, married Sarah Overturf in 1820 and in 1831 came from Kentucky to this county. He bought a tract of eighty acres in Posey township, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, his death occurring on August 29, 1864, and hers in 1886, she then being eighty-four years of age. They were the parents of nine children, Mary Ann, Matilda Jane, Samuel J., Melvina, Sarah, Mehitabel, Sanford, Harvey and Lewis. Samuel J. Kemmer was eight years of age when his father came up here from Kentucky and he grew to manhood in Posey township. On January 13, 1849, he married Elizabeth Campbell, who was born in Posey township, daughter of Charles and Jane (Gillan) Campbell, pioneers of the southeastern part of that township and natives, respectively, of Pennsylvania and of Ireland. Jane Gillan came to this country from Ireland with two brothers and proceeded on out to Indiana, where she entered a tract of government land in Posey township, this county, where she continued to live after her marriage to Charles Campbell. On her death on February 17, 1862, she left her land to her grandchildren. Samuel Kemmer was a man of wide reading and, at the time of his death, in May, 1910, was said to have had the most extensive farmer's library in Fayette county. Five daughters were born to Samuel Kemmer and wife, those besides Mrs. Overhiser being as follow: Sarah J., wife of Benjamin Crane; Luzena Alice, deceased, who was the wife of William Hanby; Mary F., wife of Emory Sloan, and Emma F., wife of Henry Mason.
To Willard and Elizabeth (Kemmer) Overhiser five children have been born, namely: Emory A., a Connersville mechanic, who married Ethie Knipe and has two children, Ellen M. and Elizabeth M.; Corwin G., a rural mail carrier out of Bentonville, who married Mrs. Eunice (Manlove) Curtis; Bessie Mabel, who married Harry G. Cole, of Houston, Texas, and has two children, Mildred E. and Morrison B.; Fannie, who married Benjamin Ertel, of Rush county, and has two daughters, Ruby E. and Gertrude R., and Mary Elizabeth, wife of Mr. Myers, the subject of this biographical sketch.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
Carl C. Smith, undertaker and funeral director at Connersville, was born in that city and has lived there all his life. with the exception of some years during his youth, when his parents were residents of the city of Cincinnati. He was born on April 23, 1871, son of Thomas L. and Delia J. (Moyer) Smith, both members of well-known families in this county.
Thomas J. Smith was born in this county and here grew to manhood and married. He began working for the Big Four Railroad Company and for some years while engaged in that employ was located at Cincinnati. Later he returned to Connersville and there engaged in the hardware, furniture and undertaking business, continuing thus engaged the rest of his life, becoming one of the best-known and most substantial business men in Connersville. When his son, the subject of this sketch, reached his majority he admitted the young man to partnership in the business, which was thereafter conducted under the firm name of Thomas L. Smith & Son.
Carl C. Smith was but a child when his parents moved to Cincinnati and in that city he received his schooling. When his father embarked in business in Connersville he took an active part in the store and when eighteen years of age was made manager of the hardware department of the same. In 1892, he then being twenty-one years of age, he was admitted to partnership with his father in the general hardware furniture and undertaking line, under the firm name of Thomas L. Smith & Son and continued thus connected until his father's death. In 1913 he sold the hardware and furniture departments of the business and has since then given his undivided attention to the undertaking line, long having been recognized as one of the leading undertakers and funeral directors in eastern Indiana. Mr. Smith has one of the most thoroughly equipped undertaking establishments in this part of the state, his equipment including all modern appliances and devices for the effective direction of a funeral along up-to-date lines, an auto-hearse and six other cars being a part of this equipment.
On October 14, 1891, Carl T. Smith was united in marriage to Mary Emily Fuchs, daughter of Herman and Eliza Fuchs, and to this union three children have been born. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Christian church and Mr. Smith is a member of the board of trustees of the congregation to which he is attached. Fraternally, he is affiliated with nearly every secret society and fraternal organization in the city of Connersville and takes a warm interest in the affairs of all.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
Richard Harrison Rowe, trustee of Columbia township, who is successfully engaged in the woven-wire fence business at Nulltown, is a native of Kentucky, but has been a resident of Indiana the greater part of the time since he was a boy. He was born in Scott county, Kentucky, February 22, 1865, son of Hiram Newton and Rachel Ellen (Estill) Rowe, both of whom were born in that same county, the latter a daughter of Berry Estill and wife, both of whom lived to extraordinary ages, the former dying at the age of ninety-seven years and the latter, at ninety-three.
Mrs. Rachel E. Rowe died when her son, Richard H., was five years of age, leaving her husband with seven children. He kept the children together as well as he could, but from the time Richard H. Rowe was thirteen years of age he was practically thrown upon his own resources for a livelihood. After working out a short time on a farm in Kentucky, he came to Indiana in the January before he was fourteen years of age, in company with his brother, William Edward, two years his elder, the boys having heard much of the Hoosier state and regarding it as a land of opportunity. They made their way to Rushville and upon inquiry there found that there was work to be obtained at Gings Station. There they found employment cutting wood for a tile factory and were thus engaged until spring, when Richard H. Rowe obtained employment with Ebenezer Smith, where he remained for some years and where he was treated with as much consideration as a member of the family, Mrs. Smith giving the lad excellent training and advice and exerting an influence upon his receptive mind which had much to do in molding his life. From Smith's place young Rowe went on up into Grant county and was there engaged at farm work for a year, at the end of which time he returned to Rush county, where he remained until 1889, when he went over into Illinois and was for a year employed at farm work in Champaign county, that state. He then returned to Rush county, this state, and in 1890 was united in marriage to Mary Sawyer, of Columbia township, this county. For seven years after his marriage Mr. Rowe continued working as a farm hand and then undertook to farm on his own account on the farm of his father-in-law in Columbia township, and was thus engaged for three years, at the end of which time he found himself heavily involved in debt, his financial disaster being largely due to an outbreak of cholera in his drove of hogs and to farm losses of one character and another. Upon finding himself thus deeply involved in debt, Mr. Rowe left the farm and in 1899 moved into the village of Nulltown, where he became engaged in the woven-wire fence business and has since continued in that line, being very successful, and has paid off all his financial obligations, with interest. Mr. Rowe in recent years has given considerable attention to local political matters and in 1914 was elected trustee of Columbia township, as the nominee of the Progressive party, and is now serving in that locally important office, giving his most thoughtful attention to the public service. He is a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias and he and his wife are members of the Christian church. To them eleven children have been born, namely: Clarence Parker, Rachel Belle, Mary Marie, Lydia Delilah, Walter Seymour, Ethel, Theodore Roosevelt, Catherine Willina, Robert Melvin (who died at the age of nineteen months), Dorothy Mildred and Margaret.
Mrs. Rowe was born at Cincinnati, a daughter of Thomas Parker and Annabelle (James) Sawyer, former residents of this county, who are now living retired at Eaton, in Delaware county, this state. Thomas P. Sawyer was born in Boston and upon the outbreak of the Civil War enlisted for service in the Union army and served until the close of the war, among the notable battles in which he was engaged having been the first and second battles of Bull Run and the battle of Gettysburg. During his service he received a very severe gunshot wound in the hip and was reported as dead.
Upon the completion of his military service, instead of returning to Boston, he located at Cincinnati, where for twenty-five years he was employed as a traveling salesman. He then moved to Louisiana, where he spent a year, at the end of which time he moved to Kentucky. Seven years later he came to Indiana with his family and bought a farm in Columbia township west of Alpine, but continued traveling, selling chinaware, and was thus engaged until his retirement from business, when he sold his farm and moved to Eaton, where he and his wife are now living.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
Joseph Emery Huston was born at West Alexandria, Preble county, Ohio, January 24, 1861. His ancestry comprised names famous in New England history. The line of descent is direct from John Alden, the hero of Longfellow's poem, and one of the "Mayflower" pioneers. The succeeding generations are Captain Jonathan Alden, his son, Jonathan Alden, Austin Alden, Josiah Alden, Salome Alden (Davis), Josiah Alden Davis, Mary (Davis) Huston, who was the mother of Joseph Emery Huston, ninth generation of the Aldens in America. Mr. Huston's ancestors, Austin Alden, Robert Smith, Edward Gale and Josiah Davis, each had distinguished Revolutionary War records.
His parents, John Van Winkle Huston and Mary Davis Huston, resided at West Alexandria at the time of his birth and until John V. Huston died, leaving two sons, the subject of this sketch and Robert T. His widow married Joseph Mills, after whose death she came to Indiana in 1908, and there lived until her death, July 3, 1915.
Mr. Huston received his collegiate training in the Ohio State University. In his young manhood he owned and conducted a job printing business. After some experience in this line, he sold his interest and came to Connersville, becoming secretary and treasurer of the Connersville Buggy Company. He was a cousin of James Nelson Huston, at that time one of the foremost business men of Connersville, at whose request .he sold his interests in the Connersville Buggy Company to become one of the managing officers of Mr. Huston's bank, at about the time that Mr. Huston was treasurer of the United States. In 1892-3, in connection with J. N. Huston, J. T. Wilkin, John B. McFarlan, S. W. and C. D. Beck, and others, he organized the Connersville Blower Company, dropping out of the other J. N. Huston companies at the time. The enterprise. in its inception, was somewhat handicapped by the sudden financial embarrassment of one of the principal members, who promptly withdrew, leaving the others to organize and carry forward the business. There are in the United States only two or three other concerns manufacturing rotary positive pressure blowers, and one of them had been established a great many years prior to Mr. Huston's company. Due to the character of the management, and the work done in the comparatively short period of its existence, the Connersville Blower Company has become a very great factor in the line of manufacture it follows, having now a capital stock of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars and a substantial surplus. Its machines are recognized by engineers the world over as of the highest standard and their use is general in every grand division of the world.
For many years Mr. Huston has been associated with the Fayette National Bank, for a number of years as vice-president and, since the death of Preston H. Kensler, as president of that institution, the largest strictly commercial bank in the community.
Mr. Huston was married. September 29, 1887, to Lilly M. Davis, at Richmond, Indiana. To them were born the following children: Marguerite, Joseph Emery and Leland Davis, the first dying in infancy, the third when about ten years old. The second child survives and is among the prominent younger business men of the community, elsewhere mentioned in this work. Mr. Huston and his wife are active in the work of the Presbyterian church, Mr. Huston having for many years had official responsibilities therein. He is a director and officer in the United Vacuum Appliance Company, the Connersville Land and Improvement Company and the Lexington-Howard Company.
No mention of Mr. Huston's activities in this community would be complete without some reference to the qualities that have contributed to his very remarkable business success. Those who know him best appreciate him for the extreme care and caution with which he undertakes anything with which he is connected, but especially for the fact that his whole business career has been dominated by a determination to live his business and personal life in strict conformity to his best ideals. A Puritan ancestry is well represented by a business career such as that of Joseph Emery Huston has been. His bitterest opponent would frankly admit that there never was a time when his actions were not dictated by the strongest sort of adherence to his conception of his duty and more than once to his own personal disadvantage. It is much to have been instrumental in the establishment of such great commercial enterprises from such small beginnings, but it is more to have built them up to solidity and importance by a policy which at all times was grounded on the highest moral and ethical principles.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
Willis R. Lake, one of Fayette county's best-known farmers, the proprietor of a fine farm in Jackson township, now living in the pleasant village of Everton, was born in Jackson township and has lived there all his life. He was born on July 5, 1861, son of Willis and Elizabeth (Ray) Lake, members of old families in this section of the state, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume.
The elder Willis Lake was born on a pioneer farm in Dearborn county, this state, across the river from Harrison, a son of William and Mary (Rounsavell) Lake, who came from New Jersey to Indiana in territorial days, settling in Dearborn county and coming thence up the White Water valley to Fayette county and settling in Jackson township, in the settlement then known as West Union, now know as Everton, about the year 1835. Willis Lake grew to manhood in that community and farmed in Jackson township the rest of his life, one of the most substantial and influential citizens of that community. He and his brother, Phenas Lake, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, worked together before their marriage for some years afterward, and also operated a saw-mill at Everton in partnership. Willis Lake's wife, Elizabeth Ray, was born in Laurel township, over the line in Franklin county, a daughter of Lewis T. and Margaret Jane (Lee) Ray, who came to this state from Ohio and settled in Franklin county, later moving up into Fayette county and locating in the Mt. Zion. neighborhood in Jackson township. Later they bought another farm in Franklin county. but late in life sold out there and moved to Delaware county, Willis Lake died at his home in Jackson township on November 10, 1903, he then being eighty-three years of age, and his widow survived him about four years, her death occurring in 1907. They were members of the United Brethren church and their children were reared in that faith. They were the parents of nine children, of whom four are still living, Lewis T., Mrs. Louisa Adams, Zachariah and Willis R.
Willis R. Lake lived with his parents until his marriage, when he began farming on his own account, establishing his home on a farm southwest of Everton, and has farmed nearly all the time since in Jackson township, but since 1907 has been making his home at Everton. He is the owner of a well-improved farm of one hundred and fifty-six acres southwest of Everton and he and his son, Claire, have ninety-one acres in another tract nearby, where they work in partnership, farming and raising and fattening hogs for the market. Willis R. Lake is a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at Everton and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization.
In 1881 Willis R. Lake was united in marriage to Alma Johnston, known to her friends as "Dine," who was born in the house in which she is now living, in Everton, daughter of William and Harriet (Spencer) Johnston, for years prominent residents of Everton. William Johnston was born in Ohio, a son of Pennsylvania-Dutch parentage, his father a tanner. The family moved to Cincinnati, where the father died when William was a boy. The latter later went to Lebanon, Ohio, where for some time he made his home with the Shakers and where he learned the tailor trade, later coming to Indiana and locating at Brookville, where he was living at the time of his marriage. He later moved to Fairfield and thence, about 1855, came up into Fayette county and located at Everton, becoming there the owner of a general store, in partnership with Mr. Irwin, and for years was engaged in business on the site now occupied by the Dawson store. He also engaged in the merchant-tailoring business and was engaged in business until a few years before his death, which occurred on August 26, 1895, he then being seventy-five years of age. He was a member of the Methodist church, a Mason and an Odd Fellow and took an active part in church and lodge work.
In an early day William Johnston was the owner of a tract of four acres of land, now crossed by Vine street, in the city of Cincinnati. His wife, Harriet Spencer, was born, it is believed, on a farm in the near vicinity of Oxford, Ohio, where her parents, John and Alma Spencer, had located upon coming West from New Haven, Connecticut. John Spencer was born either in England or Scotland and his wife was an orphan, who grew up at New Haven, Connecticut. Harriet Spencer came over into Indiana with her parents from Ohio, the family settling in Franklin county, where she was living when she married Mr. Johnston. To that union four children were born, James and Winifred, who died in childhood, and Charles, who was in business at Everton with his father and who died on January 13, 1889, at the age of thirty-four years, Mrs. Lake thus being now the only survivor of the family. Her mother died at Everton on December 27, 1891, at the age of seventy years and nine months.
Mr. and Mrs. Lake have one child, a son, Claire, who is mentioned above. Claire Lake was born on the home farm near Everton on August 18, 1882, and from boyhood has been an able assistant to his father in the labors of the farm, now being in practical management of the same, farming in partnership with his father. In October, 1906, Claire Lake was united in marriage to Maude Lake, who also was barn in Jackson township, a daughter of Ellis R. and Flora (Murphy) Lake, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, and is now living on the old home farm, where he was born and where he and his wife are very pleasantly situated. Claire Lake is a member of the Masonic lodge at Connersville and of the Everton lodge of the Knights of Pythias.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
Of the native sons of Fayette county, Indiana, who have reached a marked degree of success, as farmers and stockmen, and who have won positions of honor and influence in the county, is Jesse O. Henry, of East Connersville, who was born on November 16, 1863, and is the son of Jesse S. and Elizabeth A. (Cross) Henry.
Jesse S. and Elizabeth A. Henry were also natives of Fayette county, where they received their education in the local schools and where they were reared to manhood and womanhood. Mr. Henry was born on December 25, 1836, and as a young man engaged in farming, in which work he continued for the rest of his life. He began his life's work as a poor boy and, by hard work and close application to business, he became one of the successful men of the county. He was a man of much patience and had a high regard for the rights' and opinions of others. His life was a worthy one and he was held in high regard. He was a most kind husband and an affectionate father.
Jesse S. Henry took the deepest interest in all local affairs and his ability was recognized by the people of his home township. For several terms he held the important position of township trustee, during which time he administered the affairs of the office in a most capable and honest and fearless manner. He was associated with the Democratic party, yet he was not a partisan in the narrow sense of the word. While he was loyal to his party, he was ever striving for the best interests of the district in which he lived and the county in general. His entire life was lived in Harrison and Waterloo townships, and he had much to do with the moral and educational development of those communities. Elizabeth A. Henry was a devoted wife and mother and, by her pleasing personality and womanly traits, she won for herself many friends, who mourned her death on July 14, 1883. Some time after the death of his wife, Mr. Henry married Mrs. Huldah J. Montgomery, who died on March 17, 1885.
To Jesse S. and Elizabeth A. Henry were born the following children: William L., Jesse O., Robert W., Efie M., Iva, L. G. and Alfred. William L. grew to manhood in the county, and later engaged in the grain and elevator business at Louisville, Indiana, where he has met with success; Robert W. is a general farmer, and engaged in the coal business at Huber Station, Fayette county; Effie M. is the wife of J. B. Jones, Jr., one of the well-known and successful men of Waterloo township; Iva is the wife of J, Lew Small, a highly respected resident of Elwood, Indiana; L. G. married Sarah Cole, and was for many years before his death an efficient operator and train dispatcher at Broken Bow, Montana; Alfred X. married Estella Showalter, and until the time of his death was one of the successful farmers and stockmen of the county. At the time of his death, on March 22, 1914, Jesse S. Henry was the grandfather of twenty-one grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, and one of his greatest pleasures was in the society of his children and their children.
Jesse O. Henry received his education in the common schools of Harrison township, and grew to manhood on the home farm, where as a lad and young man he assisted his father with the many duties on the place. He remained at home until he was twenty-one years of age, at which time he was united in marriage, on May 25, 1887, to Mary M. Dungan. who was born in Waterloo township, Fayette county, and is the daughter of Benjamin F. and Elizabeth (Strong) Dungan. The parents were also born in Waterloo township, the father having been born in 1836, and died on October 23, 1916. Since the death of the husband and father, Mrs. Dungan has lived with her daughter, Mrs. Henry. Mr. Dungan was a successful farmer and stockman and was known as one of the prominent and influential men of the county. He and Mrs. Dungan were active members of the Christian church and for many years took much interest in all church work. They were the parents of two children, Mary M., and William. The latter is a well-known carpenter of Indianapolis, Indiana.
To Jesse O. and Mary M. Henry have been born four children: Arthur Vernon, Emery Ellis, Jesse B. and A. Irene. Arthur Vernon was born on February 11, 1888. He received his education in the local schools, was reared on the home farm and since the year 1913 he has been engaged in the coal business at East Connersville, the firm being known as the East Side Fuel Company. Emery Ellis, who was born on July 11, 1890, was also reared on the home farm, and is now engaged in business with his brother in the coal business at East Connersville. He is married to Flossie Enos and to them have been born two children, Beatrice E. and Janet Ruth. Jesse B. was born on July 23, 1897, and is a machinist and A. Irene was born on November 4, 1907.
Soon after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Henry moved to a farm in Waterloo township, where they established their home, and where they remained for one year, after which they located on a farm south of Connersville, where they lived for eleven years before locating in East Connersville, where they have lived for the past fifteen years. Mr. Henry has a splendid farm of three hundred and twelve acres in Waterloo township, which he operates in addition to three hundred and fifty acres that he rents. He has served on the city council and has long been prominent in the affairs of the community.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
In the eastern part of Fayette county in pioneer days there were few names better known than that of Abram Lyons, the pioneer after whom the village of Lyonsville (formerly Lyons Station) was named, and in the second generation of that descent in this county there also was an Abram Lyons, son of the pioneer, who, in his day, was equally well known and held in equally high repute in this community in which he was born and in which he spent all of his life.
The senior Abram Lyons was a Virginian, who came to Indiana by way of Kentucky, with his wife, Parmelia, a native of Kentucky, and located in Fayette county in pioneer days, first settling on a farm in Waterloo township, north of Springersville. Later he bought a quarter of a section of land, where Lyonsville is now situated, and there he spent the rest of his life. On that pioneer farm he established a distillery and a store for the sale of general merchandise and as the village grew up around these initial enterprises it came to be named Lyons Station (now Lyonsville) in honor of its founder.
On that pioneer farm the junior Abram Lyons was born on October 12, 1830, and there he grew to manhood. From boyhood he was a valued assistant to his father, driving a wagon from his home to Cincinnati twice a week, taking produce bought at the village store of his father to the city and returning with merchandise. When twenty-three years of age the junior Abram Lyons married and thereafter devoted his attention to farming, continuing a farmer the rest of his life, farming a part of the time in Jennings township, but the most of the time in Waterloo township, owner of the farm where his sons now live, and where he died in 1889.
In 1853 the junior Abram Lyons was united in marriage to Sarah Scholl, who was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in January, 1830, a daughter of John and Polly (Reed) Scholl, and who was seven years of age when her parents moved from Pennsylvania to Indiana, bringing their household goods out in a covered wagon, besides which the little Sarah walked almost all the way to her new home in the then "wilds" of Fayette county. John Scholl located in Waterloo township, on the place where Louis Scholl now lives, and there his daughter, Sarah, grew to womanhood and married Abram Lyons. To that union seven children were born, six sons and one daughter, namely: John A., born in 1854, now living on the old home farm and who has always lived in the neighborhood where he was born, for eleven years following threshing and saw-mill work, though most of the time farming; Charles Jefferson, born in 1857, who died in infancy; Robert, born in 1860, who died in 1889; another son, who died in infancy; Albert L., who is married and is living on the old home farm; James E., born in 1867, now living in Jennings township, who married Margaret Van Blaracum and has four children, Elsie, Virgil E., Vivian L. and John E., and Carrie, who died in infancy.
Albert L. Lyons was born in 1864 and has lived all his life in Waterloo township. On October 1, 1899, he was united in marriage to Mary Eliza Van Blaracum, daughter of John and Sarah Van Blaracum, and a sister of the wife of his brother James. Mrs. Lyons died on May 6, 1916, when a little over thirty-five years old, leaving three children, Arthur R., Inez L. and Willard A. There were two other children. Harold and Norman, who died in infancy. Mary E. Lyons was born on January 30, 1881, in Wayne county, this state; her mother died when she was seven years of age and she grew to womanhood in this county. Mrs. Lyons was a member of the Christian church and ever active in the good works of that congregation and in the auxiliary societies attached to the church. Her life was one of simplicity and Christian characteristics, and she was ever ready to befriend those in need.
In 1913 Arthur R. Lyons found in the orchard on the old home place a Spanish silver coin of the date of 1783.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
Emery Huston, advertising and assistant sales manager of the Lexington-Howard Company, manufacturers of the Lexington automobiles, at Connersville, in which company he is a stockholder, was born in Connersville and has lived there all his life. He was born on January 11, 1891, son of Joseph Emery and Lilly (Davis) Huston, the former of whom was born in Ohio and the latter in Indiana, who are still living in Connersville and further and extended reference to whom is made elsewhere in this volume.
Joseph Emery Huston was born at West Alexandria, in Preble county, Ohio, son of John VanWinkle and Mary (Davis) Huston, the former of whom was a general trader and merchant at that place. John V. Huston died at West Alexandria, leaving two sons, Joseph E. and Robert T., and his widow married Joseph Mills, after whose death she came to Indiana, in 1908, and spent the rest of her life in Connersville, where her death occurred on July 3, 1915, she then being past seventy years of age. Joseph E. Huston was reared in the Ohio village in which he was born and there became engaged in the job-printing business. He presently sold his print shop and took a course in the Ohio State University, after which he came to Indiana and became connected with the J. N. Huston private bank at Connersville, as assistant cashier of the same, later becoming connected with the Connersville Buggy Company, which latter connection he retained until 1893, when he and several others organized the Connersville Blower Company and became engaged in the manufacture of rotary and positive-pressure blowers, one of the three such manufacturing concerns in the United States. The Connersville Blower Company manufactures blowing machines for the acceleration of the pressure in gas mains and for similar use in irrigation mains and is also engaged in the manufacture of pneumatic tubes. Joseph E. Huston and wife are members of the Presbyterian church. Three children have been born to them, the subject of this sketch having had a sister, Marguerite, who died in infancy, and a brother, Leland Davis, who died at the age of nine years.
Following his graduation from the Connersville high school in 1909, Emery Huston entered Wabash College at Crawfordsville, Indiana, and was graduated from that institution in 1913. In that same fall he became connected with the Lexington-Howard Company at Connersville, as advertising and assistant sales manager, and has ever since occupied that position. This company manufactures the well-known Lexington automobile and Mr. Huston is one of the stockholders in the company. He also is a stockholder in the Connersville Blower Company and in other ways gives his earnest attention to the commercial and industrial life of his home city. In his political views Mr. Huston is "independent" and gives his thoughtful attention to local civic affairs, but has not been n particularly active participant in political matters.
On November 18, 1914, Emery Huston was united in marriage to Nellie Ansted, who was born at Indianapolis, January 10, 1891, daughter of Edward Willard and Catherine (Burk) Ansted, who later became residents of Connersville, where Edward W. Ansted has long taken a leading position in the commercial and industrial life of the city. Mrs. Huston is a member of the Catholic church. Mr. Huston is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, in the affairs of which he took an active interest during his college days and in which he still retains the liveliest interest. He and his wife have a very pleasant home at Connersville and take a proper interest in the general social activities of the city, helpful factors in the promotion of their home town's best interests.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
The late Franklin M. Worsham, for years one of Fairview township's most substantial farmers, was a native son of Fayette county and lived here all his life. He was born on a pioneer farm on the banks of the White Water, two miles south of Connersville, April 9, 1829, son of Jeremiah and Nancy (Fullin) Worsham, who were among the earliest settlers of this county.
Jeremiah Worsham, a Virginian, came up here from Brookville in 1811 and became a permanent. resident of Fayette county, useful and influential in the early days of the settlement around Connersville. He was born in Washington county, Virginia, in 1786, and in 1811 came over into Indiana Territory, stopping for awhile at the settlement at Brookville and coming on up into Fayette county in that same year, entering land and settling on the banks of White Water, two miles south of the Connersville settlement. Not long after coming here he married Nancy Fullin, who was born in Tennessee in 1795 and who had come to Indiana with her parents in 1811, the family locating in Fayette county. To that union were born thirteen children, William W., Elizabeth, Ruth, Malinda, Samuel, Robert, John J., George W., Franklin W., Jeremiah, Charles W., Joseph T. and Sarah. Jeremiah Worsham, the pioneer remained on the farm on which he first settled for about ten years, at the end of which time he moved to another farm he had purchased over west of Connersville and on the latter place spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on October 20, 1861. His wife had preceded him to the grave more than two years, her death occurring on July 16, 1859. Jeremiah Worsham was a good farmer and an excellent businessman and at the time of his death was the owner of more than five hundred acres of land in this county. He was one of the most active pioneers in the western part of the county and did much , for the early development of that section. Jeremiah Worsham is accredited with the arrest of the first man ever hung in Rush county, Swanson, who was tried and convicted of the crime of murder. Following the murder of his victim, Swanson got away and the hue and cry went out over this part of the country. Mr. Worsham found the fugitive sleeping in a clearing on his farm with his rifle over his arm. Standing over the sleeping murderer, with a handspike raised for action, Mr. Worsham woke the fugitive, with the remark, "Swanson, I've got to take you." Swanson replied, "Well, you've got me," and he accompanied his captor without resistance, being taken to Rushville, where his trial, conviction and execution shortly followed.
Franklin M. Worsham grew up on the paternal farm west of Connersville and was thus thoroughly familiar with pioneer conditions in this section of the state. After his marriage, in the spring of 1856, he started farming on his own account on a farm of one hundred and twenty acres he had bought in section 25 of Fairview township, and there established his home. He later bought additional land there, becoming the owner of one hundred and eighty-three acres, the original parchment deed for a part of which, granted to William H. Russell, in 1821 and signed by President Monroe, is still in the possession of the family, which continues to retain the home farm since the death of Mr. Worsham. Franklin Worsham was a Democrat and ever gave a good citizens attention to local civic affairs, although he never was included in the office seeking class.
On March 13, 1 856, in the adjoining county of Rush, Franklin M. Worsham was united in marriage, to Mary S. Newbold, who was born in this county on March 5, 1835, on a pioneer farm on the Rushville pike, about three miles west of Connersville, a daughter of Robert H. and Jemima (Messersmith) Newbold, early settlers in that part of Fayette county. Robert H Newbold was born in Delaware, a son of Robert Newbold, who came here with his family in pioneer days. The senior Robert Newbold was the son of another Robert Newbold and his mother is said to have been a daughter of Caesar Rodney, of Delaware, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. After the survey of the highway between Connersville and Rushville Robert H. Newbold took the contract for clearing the first three miles of that road west of Connersville and faithfully fulfilled his contract, clearing off the timber and building the road, and after the completion of the same acted for some time as stage driver between Connersville and Rushville, later for some time engaged in freighting between Connersville and Cincinnati.
To Franklin M. and Mary S. (Newbold) Worsham nine children were born, namely: Armilda, wife of J. B. Wiles, of Fairview township; Samantha A., who died on January 21, 1917; John T., who died on October 28, 1902; Robert F., who continues to make his home on the old home farm and assist his brother Alva in the management of the same; Martha M, who also remains on the home farm; Albert H. S., who on November 28, 1891, married Laura Jonas and is now living in Chicago; Alva P, B., who is continuing to operate the home farm in Fairview township; William M., who is a druggist, and Daisy E., who, on November 8, 1911, married Rowland Murray and now lives at Indianapolis. Franklin M. Worsham died at his home in Fairview township on April 2, 1897, and his widow survived him for nearly twenty years, her death occurring on January 15, 1917. She was not a member of any church, but always held to the Baptist faith. The Worsham brothers are Democrats and have ever given their interested attention to local civic affairs.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
Willard Robinson, one of Harrison township’s well-known and substantial farmers and trustee of that township, was born in that township and has lived there all his life. He was born on December 23, 1872, son of Erastus and Frances (Smith) Robinson, both natives of Indiana, the former born in this county and the latter in the neighboring county of Rush, and the latter of whom is still living at her home in Harrison township, the place where her husband. was born and where he spent a11 his life.
Erastus Robinson was born on a pioneer farm in Harrison township, this county, April 8, 1841, son of Lewis and Mehitable (Ellis) Robinson, natives of New York state, and pioneers of this county, where their last days were spent.
Lewis Robinson was born on June 10, 1791, near Trumansburg, between Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake, in New York, and there grew to manhood. On May 20, 1821, he married Mehitable Ellis, who was born in that same neighborhood on November 21, 1800, and in 1823 came West to what then were regarded as the "Wilds" of Indiana and settled in Fayette county; where he established his home. Upon coming to this part of the country, Lewis Robinson came by flatboat down the Susquehanna and Ohio rivers to North Bend, Ohio, where for a time he worked for Gen. William Henry Harrison, afterward governor of Indiana and President of the United States, presently coming on up into Indiana and locating on a homestead farm in the vicinity of the Yankeetown school in Harrison township, this county, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in May, 1844. His widow survived him a little more than thirty years, her death occurring on July 14, 1874. Lewis Robinson was a shoemaker and a farmer. He and his wife were earnest members of the Baptist church, he having been for years a deacon in the church, and their children were reared in that faith. There were seven of these children, of whom Erastus Robinson was the lastborn, the others being as follows: Mary, who married Lorenzo Carver; Elias, who was born on April 9, 1825, and who died in Madison county, this state; Rachel M., who rnarried Daniel T. Taylor; Minerva, who married Jonathan Ward; Martilla, who married Lemuel Leffingwell, and Eunice, who married Hiram Hiltibidle.
Reared on the home farm in Harrison township, Erastus Robinson spent all his life there. He was not yet three years of age when his father died and after the other children had grown up and moved away he remained on the farm with his mother and later came into possession of the farm, where he continued his farming operations until his death. He was a man of high character and of much native ability and served as administrator or executor of a number of estates lying in the locality of his home. In 1863 Erastus Robinson married Frances E. Smith, who was born at Raleigh, in Rush county, this state, May 30, 1840, a daughter of Eli and Minerva (McCann) Smith, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of this state. Eli Smith was but a child when his parents, John and Margaret (Groves) Smith came from Kentucky to Indiana, locating in the Fairview neighborhood in this county, and where he grew to manhood. He married Minerva McCann, who was born and reared at Raleigh, over in Rush county, a daughter of William and Minerva (Monger) McCann, and made his home at Raleigh until the death of his wife in 1843, when he moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he lived until the California gold craze broke out in 1849. He joined a party headed for the gold fields of California and never again was heard from by his family. His daughter, Frances, grew up in the home of her paternal grandparents at Little Rock and in 1860 came back to Indiana on a visit to kinsfolk. Here she met Erastus Robinson and remained here, marrying him in 1863, as noted above. Mr. Robinson died at his home in Harrison township in March, 1906. He was a member of the Baptist church, as is his widow, and their children were reared in that faith. There were six of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth, the others being as follow: Eli, who died in 1898, leaving a widow and two children, who live near the old Robinson homestead; Emma E., who married Herbert Taylor and lives in that same neighborhood; Lessie Belle, who died when twenty-two months of age; Lewis, of Connersville, and Donovan S., who is farming near the old homestead place, and owns part of the old place.
Willard Robinson grew to manhood on the old home place, where his father spent all his life, and received his schooling in the public schools in that neighborhood. From boyhood he was a valued assistant in the labors of improving and developing the home farm and remained there until his marriage in 1894, when he bought the old Hawkins Hackleman homestead farm of one hundred and thirty acres in the northwest quarter of section 14 of Harrison township, just west of Connersville, and there made his home for six years, at the end of which time, in the spring of 1903, he sold the place and bought the farm just west of the Hackleman place, a very well-improved place of sixty-eight acres, where he since has made his home and where he and his wife are quite pleasantly situated. Mr. Robinson is a Republican and from the days of his boyhood has taken an active interest in party affairs, giving close attention to local politics. In the fall of 1914 he was elected trustee of Harrison township and is now serving the public in that important capacity. He and his wife are members of the Christian church and take a proper interest in the various beneficences of the same, as well as in the general social activities of the community in which they live, helpful in promoting all agencies designed to advance the common welfare.
On December 25, 1894, Willard Robinson was united in marriage to Adelia Hackleman, who was born on the old Hackleman homestead, now the Thiebaud farm, above referred to, a daughter of Hawkins and Sallie (Wolfe) Hackleman, members of old families in this county, the former of whom died on October 10, 1894, and the latter, July 12, 1904. The Hacklemans of Fayette county are descended from Michael Hackleman, who was born in Germany about 1720 and who emigrated to America when seventeen years of age, being bound to a Maryland or Pennsylvania farmer for three years to pay his passage. He finally cleared twenty-six acres of timber land and thus squared his account. In the spring of 1751 Michael Hackleman married Mary Sailors and settled on a farm overlooking the Susquehanna river, near the line separating Pennsylvania from Maryland. He died in the Abbeville district of South Carolina in 1808; leaving five children, one of whom, Jacob Hackleman,, on September 20, 1773, married Mary Osborne, who was born in Maryland, a daughter of Thomas Osborne. Soon after his marriage Jacob Hackleman moved to Lincoln county, North Carolina, where he was living during the Revolutionary War period. He served as a soldier of the patriot army during that war until he was so badly wounded in the arm that he could no longer serve and he then hired John Grant, to serve the remainder of his term of enlistment. In 1784 Jacob Hackleman moved with his family to the Abbeville district of South Carolina, where he remained about twenty years, at the end of which time, in 1804; he moved to Boone county, Kentucky, settling on the river opposite North Bend, Ohio. Two or three years later he came over into Indiana Territory and settled on the White Water, three miles above Harrison, where he remained five years, at the end of which time he came on up into Fayette county and located in the southeast quarter of section 11 in Harrison township, where he remained until 1821, when he moved to Rush county, where he died on January 16,1829.
Jacob Hackleman had a large family, among his sons being Isaac Hackleman, born on March 26, 1780 who, July 2, 1801, married Elizabeth .Hawkins, who was born on May 22, 1783. Immediately after .his marriage Isaac Hacklernan and his wife came out to Indiana.Territory and located in Dearborn county, about two and one-half miles from Harrison, and it was there that Hawkins Hackleman was born an January 6, 1810. Five years later, in 1815, Isaac Hackleman and his family moved on up the White Water valley and located on a farm in Harrison township, this county, near, the present village of Harrisburg, thus having been among the very earliest settlers in that part of Fayette county, and it was there that Hawkins Hackleman grew to manhood. There Isaac Hackleman and his wife spent the rest of their lives, the latter dying on July 3, 1835, and the former surviving until December 10, 1844. Hawkins Hackleman early took an active part in local affairs in the pioneer neighborhood in which he was reared. His first schooling was obtained in a primitive log school hope that had oiled paper instead of glass for window panes, and he recalled the time when the present important city of Connersville consisted of a block house and a small cluster of log cabins in the woods. During his young manhood, as was customary in those days, he attended the “musters” three times a year and he belonged to the “Flat Foot Company”. From the time he was seventeen years of age he usually made four or five trips to Cincinnati each fall, driving hogs, receiving for such service twenty-five cents each day. During the summer of 1828, he then being eighteen years of age, he worked two months at staking shoes, at a wage of six dollars a month. On December 29, 1831, Hawkins Hackleman married Sallie A. Wolfe, who was born near Georgetown, in Scott county, Kentucky, November 14, 1814, a daughter of David Wolfe and wife, who came up into Indiana in 1824 and settled in this county. Unassisted Hawkins Hackleman made his own wedding shoes and his bride made her own wedding dress, a frock of white. Their wedding was conducted in true pioneer fashion, with the subsequent "infare," to which they rode on horseback. In 1832 Hawkins Hackleman engaged in mercantile business in Rush county, but presently abandoned that business and returned to Fayette county, where, from 1837 to the time of his death, he made his home in the southeastern part of Harrison township, a substantial and influential citizen of that community, his influence ever being exerted on behalf of public improvement and all good agencies.
Mrs. Robinson taught schoo1 about eight years before her marriage and she and her husband are members of the Labyrinth Club, she is also a member of the Sesame Club and a charter and associate member of the Review Club.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917
Fred W. Fisher, one of Connersville's best-known and most progressive merchants and the proprietor of an up-to-date and well-stocked grocery store on Summit avenue in that city and another grocery store in the village of Harrisburg, is a native of the old Buckeye state, but has been a resident of this state since the days of his young manhood and of Fayette county since 1901. He was born in the city of Hamilton, Ohio, August 27, 1867, son of John and Mary (Young) Fisher, natives of the kingdom of Bulgaria, who had come to this country with their respective parents during the days of their infancy, both families locating at Hamilton, Ohio, where they grew up and were married and where they spent the remainder of their lives. John Fisher was a shoemaker.
Reared at Hamilton, Fred W. Fisher received his schooling in the schools of that city and there learned the trade of molder. When eighteen years of age, in 1885, he came to Indiana and located at Richmond, where he began working at his trade and there a few years later was married. He continued working as a molder at Richmond until 1901, when he moved to Connersville, where he began working in the factory of the P. H. & F. M. Roots Company and was thus engaged for four years, at the end of which time, in 1905, he moved to Harrisburg and there engaged in the grocery business. In October, 1913, Mr. Fisher bought a grocery store at 310 Summit avenue, in the city of Connersville, and has since conducted the same, as well as his store at Harrisburg, and has been quite successful in business. Upon taking over the store at Connersville Mr. Fisher moved to that city with his family and has since made that place his home, he and his family being very, pleasantly situated.
In 1887, at Richmond, Fred W. Fisher was united in marriage to Mary Mason, who was born and reared, in that city, a daughter of John and Gertrude (Heinzleman) Mason, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Germany. John Mason was engaged in the bakery business at Richmond, as was his father before him, and there he spent his last days. His widow later made her home with Mr. and Mrs. Fisher and spent her last days at their home in Harrisburg. To Fred W. and Mary (Mason) Fisher seven children have been born, namely: Theodore, who died at the age of two years and six months, and Carl, Ralph, Reginald, Roland, Gertrude and Mary. Carl Fisher married Hazel Berkheiser and lives at 310 Summit avenue, Connersville. Fred W. Fisher is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that popular organization. He is an energetic business man and gives his earnest attention to all movements designed to advance the general material welfare of his home city.
"History of Fayette Counties, Indiana"
published by B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, IN 1917