The musical club life of Marion is a sustaining feature in musical development. After quite a bit of investigation I think I have unearthed the first musical club in our city. Perhaps it was not so well organized, nor did it have so many rules or by-laws as succeeding clubs but a club it was, and disputes with the Lyric Club, the proud boast of being the "very first" musical club. It organized in about 1890, with Miss Lucy Goldthwait as first president. The names of the members, as nearly as I could get them from memory alone were: Lucy and Alice Goldthwait, Ida Hulley, Beatrice Hall, Ada Harvey, Lotie and Lettie Case, Grace Gould, Edith Sweetser, Meta Steele, Anna Sweetser, Florence Reasoner and Delight Sweetser. You will understand that these were their girlhood names. They "think" they called their club the Matinee Musical, and explain the organization of the Amateur Musical Club in 1894 as a revival of this first little club. The Matinee Musical ( if such was its name) met at the homes of the girls and the only trace of a program is that one of the members says she knows that she read a paper on Rubenstein at a meeting held in Mrs. Martha Goldthwait's home where they all sat toasting their toes around a bright grate fire. The Amateur Musical Club of 1894 met in the basement of the old Presbyterian church. Minnie Murdoff was the first president and from an old program I add these names to those of the Matinee Musical, which may not yet be a complete list: Mabel Heichert, Dace Murdoff, Miriam Wallace, Edith Keller, Lucy Humphries, Elizabeth Thomas, Gertrude Campbell, Anna Landis, Bertha St. John, Anna Brownlee, Jessie Webster and Lulu Myers. In 1899, the young ladies of musical tastes met at the home of Miss Edith Sweetser and with Miss Alice Goldthwait as chairman organized the Morning Musical Club. Miss Minnie Murdoff was first president, and Miss Edith Sweetser, secretary. Miss Murdoff was president until 1904, followed by Miss Alice Goldthwait, Mrs. Lucy Lindhardt was the next president and she was followed by Miss Alice Goldthwait, who again assumed the duties of president. For the past three years Miss Ada Wright has been president of this club. Mrs. J. E. Johnson served as secretary coming in after Miss Sweetser and holding the office for a number of years, followed by Miss Hazel Lillard, the present secretary. This club first met on Monday morning in the basement of the old Presbyterian church. Later, but only for a time it met at the home of the members, since then at the conservatory, at the Y.M.C.A. auditorium, and at present at the Tucker studio. This club has a large membership consisting of both married and unmarried ladies, among them musicians from our neighboring towns. It is indeed a power in the musical life of our city. On Monday evening, December 8, 1913, the Morning Musical Club entertained the Lyric Club and Musical Art Society at the home of Miss Alice Goldthwait, where a fine program was given and the social feature greatly enjoyed. The evening recitals given by this club are a special feature.

[The article continues on page 452. Ada (1870-?) was the daughter of Martha E HADLEY and Elam C HARVEY; she married Webster HARPER-PMF]

Submitted by: Phyllis Fleming
Centennial History of Grant County, Indiana: 1812-1912_, Rolland Lewis Whiteson, ed., Chicago: Lewis Publ Co, "LXIII. Music --- Its Relation to the Community," pg 451.

The county treasurer receives all taxes paid for the support of the state, county and township and he is held to strict account for the safety and proper application of such funds. ...Elsworth Harvey from '99 [through 1902]; .

Centennial History of Grant County, Indiana: 1812-1912_ ed by Roland Lewis Whitson, Lewis Pub Co, Chicago & New York, 1914, pg 59

Grant County Historical Society: Since old people enjoy retrospect, and younger people get glimpses of the past from the stories they tell, and with the thought of sometime reducing some of this pioneer lore to the printed page thus preserving it to posterity, Rolinda first called the old people of the county together. While many have said there were never any better meetings than the first impromptu one, the old are the ones who know history and from word of mouth the young are the ones to preserve it. A local historical society was discussed at this first annual meeting, September 1, 1903, that being the primal object in calling together those who knew the past. At other times other persons had discussed the advisability of such society in Grant county, and in the spring of 1905 the Carnegie Liberty board, Dr. J. H. Forest, M. B. McFeely, Dr. W. A. Fankboner, G. A. Henry and R. C. Houston, cooperated in the movement by naming F. M. Beard, Dr. A. A. Hamilton, Prof. G. C. Bush, Ellsworth Harvey and S. Frank Jones as a historical museum committee, and later when Mr. Bush left the city Jane F. Hood was named to the position.

A meeting was called in Library Hall, March 25, 1905, to perfect an organization, to which the general public was invited. Letters signed by the historical museum committee were sent out to representative citizens in all parts of the county, advising them of this meeting and inviting them to cooperate in organizing such society. While an effort was made to reach public spirited persons in every township, only the following responded to this call and listened to an address by W. E. Henry, librarian of state and, by virtue of his office, president of the Indiana Historical Society. Those hearing Mr. Henry were: Prof. L. L. Tyler, R. O. Smith, Mrs. Minnie Murdoff Kimball, Prof. J. T. Giles, Isaiah Wall, M. M. Powell, Snead Thomas, Prof E. O. Maple, Rev. Alpheus Trueblood, I. M. Miller, Mrs. Nancy Prickett, Mrs. O. M. Thomas, Miss Frone A. Case, Mrs. Eli A. Milliken, James F. Hood, Mrs. Nora M. Goodykoontz, Rev. Enos Harvey, E. M. Baldwin, A. A. Burrier, Rev. Almon Greenman, B. O. Modlin, W. S. Glessner, J. B. Miller, B. B. Shively, Bethuel Smith, Rev. J. W. Clevenger, W. K. Frazier, R. L. Whitson, Mrs. R. L. Whitson, Ellsworth Harvey, S. F. Jones, G. C. Bush, F. M. Beard, Mrs. Ida Gruwell and E. L. Goldthait.

The library board has offered a home for the Historical Society in the Carnegie library, and had agreed to bear all incidental expenses of effecting an organization. State Librarian Henry had been invited to discuss the needs and benefits of such an organization. S. F. Jones, chairman of the historical museum committee, presided, stated the purpose of the meeting and introduced Mr. Henry, who told of the work in other places and encouraged such an organization. He urged the importance of preserving relics and publications, saying: "Had our ancestors been more careful in taking care of their every day implements we would have more light on their history. There is nothing too minute to be preserved if it has a bearing on the every day life of the present day people." Along that line has the society since been working, the Octogenarian Museum in Matter Park being en example.

[The constitution and by-laws drafted by the Historical Muesum committee were adopted as follows: ...]

It was moved that the chair appoint a nominating committee to name officers of the society, which resulted as follows: F. M. Beard, chairman, Prof. L. L. Tyler and E. M. Baldwin. The committee reported as follows: President, W. K. Frazier, Van Buren; secretary, R. L. Whitson, Center; treasurer, A. A. Burrier, Franklin.

The members are: M. M. Powell, F. M. Beard, E. M. Baldwin, E. L. Goldthwaite, Prof. L. L. Tyler, Mrs. Nora M. Goodykoontz, Miss Frone A. Case, Mrs. Minnie Murdoff Kimball, I. M. Miller, W. S. Glessner, W. K. Frazier, R. L. Whitson, S. F. Jones, A. A. Burrier, R. O. Smith, Tom Bar, Ellsworth Harvey, Mrs. Anna M. Curless, James F. Hood, A. Y. Stout, James H. Shively, Mrs. Philip Matler, Joshua Strange, Bethuel Smith, Mrs. Carrie Jones Dunn, Jesse H. Farr, Isaish Wall, J. L. Thompson, Mrs. Margaret Newkirk and the late Robert Ridgway of Amboy, was a non-resident member, frequently attending the meetings. The honorary members are: Rev. Almon Greenman, John Ratliff, Jacob Bugher, William H. Nieewanger, Judge R. T. St. John and Mrs. Maud Howard Gaines.

One of the first purposes of the society was embodied in the following resolutions: ...

ibid, "LVII. The Grant County Octogenarian Club, Golden Wedding Circle and Historical Society," pg 385.

ELLSWORTH HARVEY. The son of an honored pioneer family of Indiana, Ellsworth Harvey is recognize among the representative business men of his native county and he has long been a resident of Marion, where he holds the position of cashier of the Marion National Bank, one of the most solidly established financial institutions of the county. Mr. Harvey has made his way in the world unaided by outside influences, but rather through the application of his native ability and inherent character, so that he today enjoys a pleasing place in the city of his residence.

Born on a farm in Franklin township, six miles southwest of the city of Marion, in Grant county, Ellsworth Harvey claims November 22, 1863, as his natal day, and he is a son of Sidney and Jane L. (Thomas) Harvey. The father was born in Morgan county, Indiana, and the mother in Grant county, where her parents were early settlers in the pioneer days, the family having been conspicuously identified with the growth and developmentof the county. The father, Sidney Harvey, devoted himself to the farming industry, and he was successful and prosperous in his chosen work. Today he is reckoned among the most venerable and honored pioneer citizens of the county, where he is living practically retired from active business, enjoying a well earned rest after long years of strenuous life on the farm.

He was a boy of about nine years when his father, William Harvey, came to Grant county and settled upon a tract of wild land some three miles west of the present village of Fairmount, and there he finally evolved a productive farm from his wilderness land. He was of English ancestry, and the family is one that had its foundation in America in early colonial days. Born in North Carolina and there reared, William Harvey caem as a young man to Clinton county, Ohio, removing to Indiana in an early day. He passed the last years of his life in Grant county, and was known and esteemed as one of the solid men of the agricultural industry in the county. It was on his place that Sidney Harvey, his son, was reared to maturity, but for more than forty years past he has maintained his home on his own place of one hundred acres, six and a half miles from Marion. Mr. Harvey is a man of considerable influence in the community, taking a genuine interest in the political and civic activities of the township and county, and he at one time served as county assessor. A Republican in his politics, he gives his support to that part, and with his wife has membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. Of their children, Alvin and Minerva are deceased; Ellsworth, of this review, was the third born; Roscoe C. is a farmer in Franklin township; and Gulie Elma is the wife of H. P. Cline, a farmer residing in the vicinity of Junesboro [Jonesboro], Grant county.

Ellsworth Harvey was reared to farm life and in the home of his parents he early learned lessons of practical import that have stood him in excellent stead in the more mature years of his life. He attended the district schools, continueing his studies there for eight years. Thereafter he was a teacher in Fairmount Academy for one year.

In August, 1893, Mr. Harvey was appointed to the post of deputy county treasurer, and the long period in which he held this office indicates something of the character of his services. He continued to serve in his capacity as deputy until January 1, 1901, when he assumed the duties of county treasurer, to which office he had been elected on the Republican ticket in the preceding autumn. His service here was ikewise a praiseworthy one, sufficiently so as to gain to him his re-election in 1902, so that he served two full terms as county treasurer, administering the fiscal affairs of the county in a highly creditable manner.

Soon after his retirement from the office of county treasurer Mr. Harvey was chosen assistant chasier of the Marion National Bank, and here again the character of his services was such as to merit recognition, which came in the form of his advancement to the post of cashier, in February, 1911. He has since that time continued in the office, with all of satisfaction to the directors of the institution and with credit to himself.

Mr. Harvey has, like his father, been a stanch Republican since he came to years of maturity, and with his wife he is a member of the Society of Friends. His fraternal connections are with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Tribe of Ben Hur. He is the owner of a small but well improved farm in Franklin township, which claims a share in his attention.

On September 6, 1899, Mr. Harvey was married to Miss Susan Emma Higgs, of Richmond, Wayne county, this state, where she was born and reared, and where her family has been long and favorably known to the public. Her parents are Robert and Eliza Higgs, both of whom were born in England. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey have two children: Robert Sidney, born November 8, 1902; and Mildred Elizabeth, born Mary 25, 1906.

Submitted by: Phyllis Fleming
ibid, Vol 2, pg 849-851.

It is often said that the history of one family is practically the history of other families under similar environment, and the story of the Little Ridge school as presented by one of its pupils at her commencement in 1901 has value because of its originality, and because conditions in other neighborhoods are similar, barring the fact that Little Ridge is the only district in Liberty where two teachers have been universally employed prior to the time of this particular commencement. Miss Ratliff entered Fairmount Academy, completed the course of study, and then entered Earlham College, where she graduated eight years later. After two years as a Liberty township teacher she connected herself with the American Friends board of foreign missions, and in 1911 she went to Cuba as a missionary.

The young lady exhibited the initiative in her own character at her township commencement by delivering an original production, and the following sketch has merit as coming from a township graduate --- some reaching that stage early: "The first school in Liberty township was taught by Martha Jane Morgan, now Martha Tumbleson, in a schoolhouse near where Charles Payne now lives. It was called the Joseph Morgan school because it was through his influence that it was organized. Just fifty years ago the Quakers started a subscription school in the old log meeting house at Little Ridge. Some of the teachers were Rachel Moore, George Pierce and my grandfather, Mahlon Harvey, who lived two or three hundred yards north of the schoolhouse. He sent his little girl to school when the woods were so thick that he had to cut away the bushes and blaze a path to the schoolhouse so she would not get lost.

The first district school in Liberty township was the Reeder school, on the corner north from the tile mill at Wright's station. Among the teachers were Lydia Harvey, Mary Jane Hadley and Lewis Jones, who is now president of the Michigan Normal School. [Editor's note. Mr. Jones was a Grant county boy who became superintendent of the Indianapolis city schools, and later held the same position in Cleveland, Ohio, before locating in Michigan.] They held elections and voted on the teachers, the candidates securing the greatest number of votes being given the position. At that time, the teacher did not write an examination for a license, but went to Marion, where a man, called the examiner, asked them questions for half an hour or more and if they could answer some questions which he could not he granted them a license, as the supply was not great and some schools often had poor teachers.

When Jesse Wright became trustee he built a school house about a mile and a half west of Little Ridge on Mahlon Brewer's farm. It was low ground and the water often raised to a depth of two feet during spring rains, and one spring when George Pierce taught the water raised around the school house until there was not a dry spot near it. He rode a horse to school that morning. The water was so high he could not get to the wood pile on foot, so he rode out to it and loaded the wood on in front of him, carried it up to the door and threw it in the house. He built a fire, but no scholars came and there was no school until the water went down. About 1870 a school house was built at this place, and the first teacher was J. H. Gaunt, with Edward Caldwell as his assistant. Both teachers resigned on account of sickness and John and Eli Cox finished the term. The next teacher was Elwood Scott, who is now a minister, then T. J. Nixon taught three years with Mosilene MacFarland, Sallie Hollingsworth and Eliza Jane Howell as assistants.

Three or four years after the school was opened it became necessary to build another room. All the young folks in the neighborhood from little boys and girls of six or seven to grown men and women went to school. Where there were several children in one family they carried one big basket and all ate together. The next teacher was Thomas Hutchins, with Jennie Newby as his assistant; Evan H. Ferree followed, teaching three years; Anna Goodwin, Ella Exelby and Sarah Whitson each taught a term with him, and next cameEnos Harvey, who taught two years with Mollie Brandon and Sallie Price as assistants. Alexander Fink taught two terms with Ella Cammack and Ruth Harvey as his assistants. J. F. Carmichael and Henie Roser taught the next year, followed by James Jones and Myrtle Kimes, who were afterward married, and Anna Chappell was his primary teacher. Joseph Latham and Anna Ellis taught the next year, and after them came Ancil E. Ratliff and Cora Doherty. James Eaton came next with Cora Doherty assisting again. William Young then taught one term without an assistant, and it was during this year the school house burned one night, all the scholars losing their books, and at the time the present brick school house was built, Mr. Young teaching the next year with Nettie McMasters as primary teacher.

[Editor's Note. Because Little Ridge was an unusually thickly populated district, there was a "leanto" built on the old fram school house, and the primary teachers there always taught in the "Kitchen." The new building has two rooms and when there is only one teacher the other room affords a play room for basket ball.]

Homer Dickey and Flo Wells were the next teachers, followed by Dempsy Ceball, with Flo Wells and Lillie Hungerford as assistants. Flo Wells began the next term, and Frank McCabe, who is now trustee of our township, finished it. Clayton Johnson then taught two terms with Louise Hutchins and Josephine Knight assisting him. Frank McCabe taught the next year with Edna Ballenger assisting him. Oliver J. Hockett then taught two terms with Stella Davis and Edna Ballenger assisting him. W. W. Ware and Miss Ballenger taught the next term and this completes the list up to our present teachers, who are Mr. Ware and Dora Bogue. Little Ridge school has had more teachers, a greater number of pupils, a longer list of graduates and bigger dinners [pg 320 starts here]

Phyllis Miller Fleming: I remember seeing Ina and Raymond at Little Ridge Friends meetings. They lived across the road from Charles (their son) and Marie. They both became ill at died within a day or two of each other -- both so ill they didn't know the other one was sick. They were always kind and friendly to me.

Submitted by: Phyllis Fleming
Centennial History of Grant County, Indiana: 1812-1912_, Rolland Lewis Whiteson, ed., Chicago: Lewis Publ Co, pg 318-319. XLIV. HISTORY OF LITTLE RIDGE DISTRICT SCHOOL by Ina Mary Ratliff