Henry C. Wise, ex-educator and practical farmer and mechanic of Fall Creek Township, Henry County, Indiana, was born near Lewisville on Flat Rock creek, this County, June 3, 1855, and is a son of Peter and Matilda (Bouch) Wise, natives of Pennsylvania. They came to Indiana in 1853, first located near Cadiz, in Harrison Township, Henry County, but five years later went to Montgomery County, Indiana, and resided near Crawfordsville during the Civil War. In 1866 the family returned to XV. D Cooper's farm. Peter Wise was a farmer and for five years resided near Cadiz where his death occurred when he was seventy-five years old; he was survived by his widow about nine years, her death taking place at the present home of her son, Henry .C., when she was about eighty. These parents had a family of eight children, but two of whom live in Henry County, Henry C. and Peter, the latter residing at Lewisville. Henry C. Wise received a good common school education at New Castle and was also graduated from the Northern Indiana Normal College at Valparaiso. When twenty years old he began to teach during the winter seasons at Cadiz and followed the profession there and elsewhere four years until he was made principal of the Middletown school, which position he filled six years. In .the meantime Mr. Wise had remained on the homestead and had learned the carpenter's trade, which he has followed in all about fourteen years. He began contracting at Cadiz and later became a partner with James P. Dykes of Middletown. October 13, 1881, Mr. Wise married Miss Fannie Mills, a daughter of Luther Mills, of Delaware County, his home being located two and a half miles north west of Middletown, but who in the spring of 1882 came to town to reside permanently. Mr. Wise continued contracting until 1890, but in 1888 had purchased eighty acres of farmland for four thousand dollars, forty acres of which had been placed under cultivation, but upon which there were no buildings. Mr. Wise settled on the old place in 1889 and at once began making the necessary improvements to make the farm a profitable and comfortable one to live upon, clearing up the unimproved part, laying about two hundred rods of tiling and erecting modem and substantial buildings, his barn being 36x87 feet, with basement. He feeds stock chiefly and ships two to three carloads of cattle of his own feeding and about one hundred hogs per year. He also handles stock in company with Willis Wisehart, and employs two men during the busy season. Besides stock raising he grows corn and wheat and has in constant use three teams. In politics Mr. Wise is a Republican, but not a very active one. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 97, and encampment, having of course passed all the chairs in the former, and having represented it in the grand lodge. Mr. Wise is also a member of Montezuma Tribe No. 126, I. 0. R. M., at Middletown, Indiana, and is collector of straws of the Haymakers, Montezuma Hay Loft No. 126 1-2. Mrs. Wise is a member of the Rebekahs, as also is the daughter Effie. Mr. Wise is general superintendent of the Henry, Madison and Delaware Counties Fair Agricultural Society, appointed in 1902. This organization is one of the best agricultural bodies of central Indiana, and has been a signal success financially. In 1885 Mrs. Fannie (Mills) Wise was called away by death and January 5, 1888, Mr. Wise chose for his second helpmate Miss Susie Diefenbach, of Ohio, but who bad been a saleslady in Middletown for two years. By the first marriage there was born one child, Effie, now seventeen years old. She was a high school student in Middle Town, Indiana. To the second marriage have been born children as follows: Homer, who died in infancy, and Helen, now eleven years old, who is in the eighth grade having made two grades in one year, and a little daughter, Caroline Elizabeth. Mr. and Mrs. Wise are members of the Christian church and socially they rank with the best and most popular residents of Fall Creek Township and town of Middletown.

Submitted by: Lora
Compendium of Biography Of Henry County, Indiana B. F. Bowen 1920

Henry County, Indiana, has within its limits but few horticulturists and agriculturists as experienced in these two branches of husbandry as the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this biographical notice. He is of French extraction and remotely of ante-Revolutionary descent, was born in Warren County Ohio, August 14, 1824, a son of Samuel B. Gustin, of Pennsylvania, whose father, Jeremiah Gustin, was born in New Jersey and was a son of Jeremiah Gustin, the son of John Gustin, who was born on the island of Jersey, on the northeast of France, and was the founder of the family in America. John Gustin and his wife Elizabeth came from the isle of Jersey to America in 1675 and died in 1719 at Falmouth (Portland), Maine. His son Jeremiah, who was born in 1691, married Mary -, who was born in 1692. They settled in Sussex County, New Jersey, and there Mrs. Mary Gustin died in 1762, and John Gustin in 1771. Jeremiah Gustin, son of John and Elizabeth Gustin, married Bethany Fuller, and died at Red Lion, Warren County, Ohio, in 1825 and 1829 respectively. Jeremiah Gustin, son of Jeremiah and Bethany (Fuller) Gustin, married a Miss Betts, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and died also at Red Lion at the advanced age of ninety-two years. Samuel B. Gustin, son of the Jeremiah last alluded to, married Elizabeth Diltz, a native of Kentucky, but reared in Ohio. Samuel B. and his wife lived on the old Gustin place at Red Lion until 1845, at which time they were the parents of six children, namely: Lemuel, who left his home about the year 1859, lived in Illinois and Dakota several years, then at Storm Lake, Iowa and is now a resident of the state of Washington; Isaac H., the subject proper of this biography, is next in order of birth; Rebecca, the third child, was married to John Cummins, but with her husband is now deceased; Jeremiah died in middle life in southwest Indiana;. Susan, who was married to Asa Smith, died about ten years ago; Benjamin Franklin, or "Doe," as he was familiarly known, died in southwest Missouri, and Martha, who was first married to Miles Cummins, is now the widow of Frank Smith. The Gustin family came to Madison County, Indiana, and settled on the county line, where Samuel B. cleared up a farm of one hundred acres from a tract he had bought in the wild woods and on which he resided until his death March 31, 1874, at the age of seventy-six; his wife died a few years previously at the age of sixty-eight Mr. Gustin was a mechanic and had a shop in which he made guns, wheels, coffins, etc., and was also an impromptu dentist, but his work in this line was principally confined to the extracting of teeth. He also bled people occasionally and was the "handy" man of his neighborhood. He was a member of the Christian church, was in politics first a Wig and afterwards a Republican and had held the office of justice of the peace. Isaac H. Gustin assisted in clearing up the new farm and remained on the place three years after coming to Madison County, when he married, November 9, 1848, Miss Elizabeth, a daughter of James and Lucy (Harvey) Cummins, natives of Monroe County, Virginia, where Elizabeth was born April 15, 1827. In 1829 the Cummins family came to Indiana in wagons with several other families and settled one mile east of Middletown, but two years later bought land west of the village, which land is now the property of James L. Gustin heirs. In 1832 there had seven or eight acres been cleared and the family lived in a round-log cabin, which was replaced by a hewed-log house, and here Elizabeth Cummins was married at the age of twenty-one. For one year after marriage Mr. Gustin and wife lived on his father's land and then for a year on her father's. In 1850 he entered land in the Indian Reservation in Madison County, ten miles northwest of Alexandria, erected a log cabin in the woods among the howling wolves and laid in provisions sufficient to last him a year. He cleared up eight acres of the place and set out fruit trees; then he sold the place for six hundred dollars and for six hundred and fifty bought the farm of one hundred and sixty acres on which he now lives. But this land was swampy and he was forced to drain it. He then built a hewed-log cabin (which has been replaced by his present modern dwelling on the same site), cleared up the higher ground, converted the timber into cord wood and sold it to the railroad company; this process was repeated the second year, Mr. Gustin deriving a fair income from it the meanwhile. Since 1852 this farm has been the homestead, although Mr. Gustin has sold some of the land to his sons, retaining but eighty acres for his own use. He had placed one hundred and twenty-five acres under cultivation, had laid timber-lined ditches, which were followed by mole drains which in clay soils had a lasting quality of from five to ten years and finally secured the use of the public drains, into which he ran tiling at a cost of six hundred dollars. About three-quarters of the land was under water the greater part of the year and roads were invisible, but eventually logs were rolled together and covered with earth and now good gravel roads exist where before they were more a matter of imagination than reality. Besides devoting his attention to the farm. Mr. Gustin has made some experiments in inventing agricultural machine and gates, for which he has taken out several patents. In politics Mr. Gustin was first a Whig and in 1848 voted for General Winfield Scott as the presidential nominee of the party; since 1856 he has been a Republican, although for a few years he diverged from his party and joined the Populists. Mr. Gustin has been a member of the Christian or New Light church since thirty-six years of age and Mrs. Gustin has professed the same faith for forty years. Mr. and Mrs. Isaac H. Gustin have had born to them the following family: Edwin, who lost his life in a gravel pit in 1895 at the age of forty five years; Cynthia, who was married to Lee Nixon and died in 1875 when twenty-two years old; Francis Marion, a homeopathic physician at Union City; James, who died in 1895 at the age of thirty years, wedded Mattie Brunk, and was the father of five children: Lee, Sylvester, Morton, Ada and one deceased; Smith, a resident of Fall Creek township, wedded Sallie Hirpp, and had children as follows: Clay, May, Ida and three deceased; Moses, an agriculturist, is married and is the father of five children as follows: Montrew, Fredie, Ruby, Ogleve and Argness. The surviving members of the Gustin family are among the most honored of the pioneer settlers around Middletown and have, always been among the foremost in developing from the forest the fruitful farm that now adorns and enriches the country and which have tended to make the town and township what they are today. They have certainly richly earned the enviable standing, which they now enjoy.

Submitted by: Lora
Compendium of Biography Of Henry County, Indiana B. F. Bowen 1920

Under the form of government adopted by our forefathers matters pertaining to creed or sect were carefully avoided, thus giving to all that opportunity for growth and development along such lines as each might determine. One of the greatest and most beneficent results thus obtained was the elimination of much of that bigotry and spirit of intolerance which surrounded and impeded the progress of Christianity from the early days of the sixteenth century down to the closing of the eighteenth, during the last quarter of which the independence of the American colonies was happily secured. Hence, the broad and liberal views now practiced by the various denominations toward each other has had a tendency to harmonize the former conflicting elements of communities. He whose biography is herewith presented has for some years enjoyed the distinction of being one of Henry County's ablest divines. Rev. James P. Ewing, the well-known, efficient and popular pastor of the Christian church at New Castle, Henry County, Indiana, was born near Winchester, Virginia, in the famous Shenandoah Valley. When but a boy he was brought by his parents to Ohio, settling in Athens County. On the 28th of February 1864, he enlisted in the Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under General Grosvenor, as a recruit. He had been reared in a pro-slavery atmosphere and four of his brothers and a brother-in-law served in the Confederate army, but he was in his childhood a keen observer and early became convinced that the institution of slavery was entirely wrong. His disgust at slavery was brought to the culminating point when the attempt was made to over throw the union and he determined to offer his services in the effort to put down the rebellion and preserve the integrity of the national government. He joined his regiment at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and was with it during all the stirring scenes, which took place in that locality during the last days of the terrible struggle. He saw service at Chattanooga and during the memorable Atlanta campaign, and afterward joined Thomas in the pursuit of Hood before the battle of Nashville. They followed Hood to the Tennessee river and then returned to the vicinity of Chattanooga, performing picket and guard duty, and also made raids upon the forces of the rebel generals, Forrest and Morgan. They continued in this line of service until the surrender of General Lee. At this time General Steadman was made provost marshal of Georgia and to assist in the work of his department the regiment was ordered to Augusta, Georgia, where it remained until the following October, being then mustered out at That place and receiving a final discharge shortly afterward at Columbus, Ohio. While his regiment was in Georgia Mr. Ewing was detailed as a clerk in the office of the medical director. Upon his return to civil life James P. Ewing entered an academy at Athens, Ohio, and was also a student elsewhere. At the age of twenty-one years he began teaching in the country schools and in a select school in that part of the state, and continued that occupation for five years, at the same time continuing private study. His reading and study had been largely devoted to theology and kindred subjects and he determined to enter the ministry. His attention had early been drawn to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, but as the result of thorough and patient investigation he gave his allegiance to the Christian church, joining it on the 22d of April 1866. While still engaged in teaching he had devoted himself to some extent to evangelistic work, but at this time he entered the regular ministry, his first pastorate being at Mansfield, Ohio. Then he was stationed in order at Sabina, Jackson and Ripley, all in Ohio, and at Crawfordsville, Indiana. In 1888 he resigned the latter charge for the purpose of taking -up again the special evangelistic work, confining his operations principally to the state of Indiana. In this work he traveled over the entire state, organizing churches and new societies and reviving others that had become lukewarm. It was very hard work, but his soul was in it and his efforts were blessed with abundant results. In 1889 he had visited New Castle and organized a district, composed of two counties. After two years of the state work he again entered the regular pastorate, serving the charge at Frankfort for two years. He then returned to Ohio and assumed charge of the church at Jackson, the same charge he had served ten years before. Rev. Mr. Ewing remained at this place four years and then went to another of his old charges, Ripley, at the earnest solicitation of that church, having also oversight of the church at Liberty. This was a busy year, as besides the extra work attending the erection of a new church building at Ripley, he was also conducting regular preaching services at Fowler and Boswell. Indiana. In December 1898, Rev. Ewing accepted a call to the Christian church at New Castle, and has since remained in charge here, his sole attention being given to the work here. His work here has been fruitful with good results and by his courteous manners, eminent ability and genuine worth he has endeared himself, not only to the members of his immediate congregation, but to all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance. He is a forceful, logical, convincing and pleasing speaker and keeps in close touch with all phases of modern life, especially in relation to the present day conditions of the laboring classes. He holds closely to the teachings of the gospels and of the old leaders of the church, standing squarely on the plain religious teachings of the Bible and giving little encouragement to the advanced stand taken by some of the modern theologians. He was an admirer of President Garfield and while the latter was in congress heard him preach. He also was acquainted with the lamented McKinley, who in many respects resembled Garfield. He has not confined himself in his readings and studies to any one particular line of thought, but has been broad, and comprehensive, his studies including the creeds and dogmas of other churches, the history of religions, the philosophy of religion and education, history, biography, etc. He has also read extensively and been a deep student of Blackstone and other authorities on law and has recently been admitted to the bar. Politically he cast his first presidential vote for General Grant and has ever since been identified with the Republican Party. In matters fraternal he is a member of the Masons, having attained to the Royal Arch degree, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Grand Army of the Republic. He takes an especially active part in the work of the Odd Fellows. On the 20th of April 1866, Rev. Mr. Ewing was united in the holy bonds of matrimony with Miss Miranda Conant, the ceremony being celebrated in Meigs County, Ohio. She was a native of the Buckeye state, received a good education and has been a helpmate to the subject in the truest sense of the word. This union has been blessed with the following children: Ilerede is the wife of N. F. Palmer, of Frankfort, Indiana: E. G. is a preacher and is pastor of the Middletown Christian church in this county; Jessie is the wife of F. W. Bertsch, of Jackson. Ohio. It is largely to such men as the subject of this sketch that the community is indebted for its present high standing as regards general morality and charitable and benevolent activities and their efforts are fully appreciated by the people of the community. It is to be hoped that Rev. Mr. Ewing may remain for many years an active promoter of the cause of religion and morality.

Submitted by: Lora
Compendium of Biography Of Henry County, Indiana B. F. Bowen 1920

Among the many gallant and brave soldiers who volunteered from the state of Indiana to save the American union from disruption by the South in the blood thirsty rebellion of 1861-5 was the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this biographical sketch, but who is now one of the most respected and thrifty agriculturists of Harrison Township, Henry County, Indiana. Although he was of southern extraction, like many others whose parents came from that section of the country, he was possessed of true patriotism and was but too glad to avail himself of the opportunity to volunteer his services in the cause of the Union when the proper time came to manifest his love of the cause of liberty and the Union. William Brookshire was born in New Castle this County, on the 6th of August 1835, and is the son of Endsley and Elizabeth (Shelley) Brookshire. The ancestors of the subject were Scotch-English. His paternal grandfather was a native of England, but came to this country before the Revolution and with the true spirit of loyalty to his adopted country assisted the colonists in obtaining their independence. In the second war with England, in 1812, he was also in the military service of his country and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. At the close of this struggle he located in North Carolina, where he lived during the remainder of his life. His son, the father of the subject, was born in the latter state, but emigrated to Indiana and settled on the site where the city of New Castle now stands. That was in 1813 and at the time he came to this state he was but a penniless boy. At the age of fifteen years he went to work for Wilson Clift and was in his employ one Year, receiving for his work the sum of fifty dollars. Out of this he boarded himself and managed to save twenty-five dollars. About this time his uncle arrived in this state from North Carolina and entered a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land and by him the subject was employed for four years, receiving fifty dollars per year. From his salary and money earned by extra work he saved two hundred and fifty dollars and this he invested in forty acres of land situated west of New Castle, which he had entered from the government. He at once entered actively upon the work of improving this property, clearing the land, planting an orchard, building a house. Etc. He subsequently sold that place for four hundred dollars and bought another place of eighty acres, upon which he resided until the time of his death, May 30, 1898, at the advanced age of ninety-eight years. At the age of twenty-five years he united with the Wesleyan Methodist church, in which he became a minister and continued as such until his death. In politics he was a Republican and for many years held the office of justice of the peace. In New Castle, this County, Mr. Brookshire was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Shelley, the daughter of Eli and Abagail Shelley. Her parents were natives of Pennsylvania, moving from that state to Tennessee, and thence in 1840, to Indiana. To them were born a family of nine children, five boys and four girls, William, the immediate subject, being the oldest in the family. William Brookshire experienced all the hardships and privations incident to the lives of the early pioneers and early, developed a sturdy manhood, both physically and morally. He assisted his father in the arduous task of creating a home in the new country, splitting rails, pulling stumps, building fences, plowing the land, and the many other arduous duties of the early farm. He learned the trade of a carpenter, in the meantime also giving keen attention to the mastery of the common English branches. He thus became sufficiently equipped to teach school, which pursuit he folio Wed during the winter months, working at the carpenter's trade during the summers. While he was thus engaged the dark cloud of civil strife rose in the southern horizon and, feeling that his services were needed by his Country, he volunteered to go to the front as a defender of his Country's flag. He enlisted at Richmond, Indiana, in Company D, Thirty-sixth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under the command of Capt. Isaac Kiriley, and were sent to Indianapolis for equipment. From there they were sent to Camp Wickliffe on guard duty and on the 6th and 7th of April, 1862, were engaged in the battle at Shiloh, and afterward at Crab Orchard, Whitesides, Buzzard Roost and Huntsville, being under fire for thirty days. They retreated to Nashville and to Louisville, and later engaged the enemy at Stone River. The subject's term of service having expired, he returned home in September 1864, holding the rank of corporal at the time of his discharge. Upon returning to his home he resumed the occupations of carpentering and school teaching. He had prior to the outbreak of the war bought a sixty-acre tract in Harrison Township, this County, going in debt on the account, but by the time of his marriage, in 1866, he had, by hard work and rigid economy, liquidated this indebtedness and had seven hundred dollars in cash. He worked at his trade and lived on his father's farm for a while, but in September 1867, he moved onto his own land, which he has since cultivated. He has prospered and has added to his possession from time to time until he now owns one hundred and twenty acres here and eighty acres in Greensboro Township. In addition to the tilling of the soil, Mr. Brookshire has given considerable attention to the breeding, raising and selling of livestock and has found this a profitable source of income. Since 1848 he has been largely engaged in the capacity of an auctioneer, in which he has been signally successful, as he is in all his undertakings. He has now amassed a very comfortable competence, all acquired by his own strenuous endeavors. On the 10th of May 1866, William Brookshire was united in the holy bonds of matrimony with Miss Elizabeth Miller, a native of Henry County, born January 31, 1848. This union has been a most congenial and happy one and has resulted in the birth of the following children: John XV married Effie Darling, and resides in California: Emma J. is the wife of Charles Rix; Ella is the wife of Charles Pearson; Perry H married Etta Armstrong; Charles E. married Pearl Coon; Minnie is the wife of Luther McCormick; Thomas is unmarried and lives in Hollister, California; Weaver, a practical farmer, is unmarried and is at home. All of these children have been given the benefit of a good, practical common school education. In politics the subject is a pronounced Republican and takes a keen interest in the success of his party at the polls. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to Lodge No. 375 at Kennard, and has twice passed all the chairs in the subordinate lodge and twice represented the lodge in the grand lodge. He is not affiliated with any religious denomination, but is obedient to the principle laid down in the Golden Rule and is a liberal contributor to churches and other worthy objects. He has taken an interest in public affairs generally, and has several times acted in the capacity of administrator of estates. He also holds the responsible position of treasurer of the Ashland Gas Company in his locality. Mr. and Mrs. Brookshire have lived strictly upright lives and have thus gained the respect of their neighbors and won from many of them the warmest sentiments of personal friendship. The early defense of his native country and his excellent management of his affairs since peace finally spread her mantle over the fair face of the land, have been the means of exciting in the rising generation a spirit of emulation and imitation that must redound in the future welfare of the township and the ultimate advancement of public improvements within all its bounds.

Submitted by: Lora
Compendium of Biography Of Henry County, Indiana B. F. Bowen 1920