
BOONE COUNTY INDIANA BIOGRAPHIES
David Holloman
David Holloman was
born in 1835 in Steelville,
Missouri. When he was 16 years of age in 1851 he migrated to
California. To pay his way he helped lead an oxen train and his
daughter says that she can remember him saying that they thought they
were going to be attacked by Indians but thankfully nothing happened.
He spent some time in the Marysville and San Jose areas of California,
and if he prospected for gold he was not successful. He returned to
Missouri via ship and land. He sailed from San Francisco to the Panama
area and then portaged across the Isthmus of Panama and by ship again
to Norfolk, Va. While coming around Cape Hatteras there was a storm and
he was afraid that they would be shipwrecked but were not.
He returned to
California in 1864 with his first
wife, Elizabeth Dunlap, of Missouri. They had three sons and a
daughter. The oldest son, Robert, died in Miami, Florida, in 1935; the
next, Reed, was a lawyer and judge In New Mexico. He was a member of
the Constitutional Convention when New Mexico was admitted to the Union
in 1912. Reed died in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1957. The youngest son,
Tom, was a barber and died in San Antonio, Texas, in the early 1960’s.
The daughter died in infancy and is buried along with her mother, who
died In 1877, in San Jose, California.
David Hollornan
came to Boone County in 1879 because
his Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Will DeVol had a farm here. The DeVols had
entered 640 acres from the Government and at their deaths, David
received 105 acres (presently owned by Keith and Aretta Cunningham). He
farmed this land and had a specialty orchard containing many varieties
of fruit previously unknown in this area. Of the remaining acres,
George Rigsby, whom the DeVols had raised, received 300 acres and the
remaining acreage went to the DeVol heirs. In 1881 David married
Frances L Henderson. They had three children: Lila (Mrs. Walter Hodge)
who died in Lebanon in 1924, Newell T., who died in Lebanon in 1967,
and Mae (Mrs. Stanley E. Jones), who is still living.
Mr. Holloman loved California and so
they moved to the Bakersfield,
California, area, living near what at that time was called Kern City,
but today is known as East Bakersfield. David died in 1902 and is
buried in Union Cemetery, Bakersfield. Frances and the children
returned to Boone County about a year later.
Martin Hauser
Martin Hauser was
born November 11, 1696, in
Germany. He was married to Margarett Schaffer in 1721 in Germany. The
couple journeyed to North Carolina In 1752. Children of the couple were
George Hauser, born in 1730, married to Barbra Deitz, January 11, l776;
and John Lawrence Hauser, married Martha Clayton on July 26,
1802, in Stokes County, North Carolina.
Lewis Hauser was
the son of John Hauser, born
September14, 1803. His first marriage was to Levina Stultz and his
second marriage was to Laura Lewis. George A. Hauser was a son of Lewis
Hauser, born August 18, 1839. He and his wife, Lavina Neese, to whom he
was wed August 8, 1861, had four children: Viola was born March 1,
1863, and married Emmett Pitzer, November 11, 1880. They had eight
children: Harland, Estella, Riley. Caroline, Audra, Arnetta, Joyce, and
Wayne.
Riley was born
September 25, 1864, and was married
Nettle Garner in 1866. SIze died in 1910. His second marriage was to
Elizabeth Worland on June 20, 1911. They had four sons Robert, George,
Franklin, and Lewis.
Robert married
Margaret Graham. They had four
daughters. Margaret Ann married Harry Stum and had two girls: Loretta
Ellen and Rose Mary. Albert F. Hauser, born January 25, 1866, was
married to Lenora Johns on February 10, 1887. Three children were born
to the union. The first baby, a girl, was stillborn and is buried in
the Lutheran Cemetery. Ethel was born December 19, 1888, and was
married to Ernest Scott. They had three children: Devota, Gareth, and
Ren. Devota married Delmar Ditzenberger and they had three children.
Gareth married Zona Bennington and they had three children. Ren married
Pheobe Moore. The couple lives north of Whitestown on the Scott farm.
Elsie M., the
daughter of George and Lavina Hauser
was born October 17, 1875, and was killed September 23, 1879, while
riding with her father on a sled in which he was hauling a cider mill.
She is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Glen E. Hauser,
the son of Albert F. and Lenora
Hauser, was born May 12, 1892, on the Hauser farm, located two miles
south of Whitestown, His first marriage was to Pearl Lane. His second
marriage was to Ruth Cook Updike on December 26, 1923.
George A. Hauser
was a politican. He was trustee of
Worth Township. In 1880 he was elected Clerk of the Boone County
Circuit Court. He lived in Worth Township all of his life, with the
exception of four years when he resided in Lebanon.
Riley Hauser was deputy clerk for his
father and for Michael Keefe for
eight years. He was also in the under -taking business, in the firm of
Hauser and Hogshire in the1800’s. He was secretary of the Boone County
Fair Association for several years.
Joseph Ferneding Worland
1935-1919
Joseph Ferneding Worland was born in
Shelby County. Indiana, Nov. 30,
1835, the same day Mark Twain was born and thirty-nine years before
Winston ChurchilL He was baptized by and named for Father Joseph
Femeding, for whom he conceived a deep hatred and would therefore use
only his middle initial. He never learned to read or write but was by
no means stupid, and was so witty that the young bucks thought it great
sport to get him out of bed to answer such questions as, “How far is it
half a mile down the road?” because the answer was worth their time. In
fact, my mother thinks that this prank was the basis of his hatred for
her father, George Rader.
He married first
Marinda Allen, and they had three children, Olive,
Cora and a baby that died. They moved to Boone County, Indiana in 1869.
Marinda died in 1880. Olive was already married. She had hidden her
clothes under the steps of Center Church when she went to young
people's meeting on Sunday night, and the next day she and George stood
up in the buggy in front of the church and were married, so that when
her father got there with his shotgun to prevent the marriage, there
was nothing he could do about it. When Joe's wife died he took Cora to
some of the neighbors, but when he went to visit her he found she had
head lice. He said, “If I can't hire anybody to take care of her, Ill
find somebody!” This somebody proved to be Lizzie Brown, a tiny little
woman who was very efficient and cheerful, and although quite deaf, a
voluble talker. Her speech and manner were very precise. She and Joe
had two children, Mattie and Albert. Mattie was just the age of her
half-niece, Cora Rader, and they were always closer than sisters.
Olive and Cora
both had very hard lives. They both married against
their father's wishes and he disinherited them. George Rader was a
brilliant man and a mechanical genius, but was never able to make his
talents pay off, so that his family lived
in great poverty. So did the family
of Cora and Jim McNealy. However,
when someone attempted to quiz Mattie about family relationships her
black eyes snapped and with her machine -gun speech she fired back,
“Olive always brings the children and comes home once a year, and she
can truthfully say that her father's always glad to see her!”
But when Mattie
became old enough to be interested in the boys, Joe
tried to shoo them all off. Finally Eli Rose succeeded in winning her
love, with her mother's approvaL Before they went to town to be
married, Lizzie had the man across the road teach her to load and
unload the shotgun so that if Joe took after Eli, he could do him no
harm. Fortunately, when she told Joe that Mattie was married he took it
very well, and she reloaded the gun. He never knew it had been
unloaded. She was prone to say on occasion, “Josie, behave yourself!”
and sometimes he did.
Joe was a man of
violent temper and foul and profane tongue, but he
had very strict standards of behavior for all small fry who came near
him, particularly concerning table manners. Once when the Erp children
were visiting there, they climbed up on the fence of the mule pen. Joe
came on the run and grabbed them off. “Those mules will kick your heads
off!” Zonda says, “I don't think he said, ‘Those mules will kick your
heads off!”
Joe always drove
the fastest and finest buggy horses he could find,
and, naturally, this high spirited kind of horse was skittish when the
automobile came around. His buggy was upset a few times and he hated
automobiles, never called them anything but “ old automobiles,” and
refused to ride in them.
Then came the
awful fall of 1918. As the juggernaut of war slowly
ground to a halt in Europe, “Kaiser Bill,” who now seems such an
innocent villain in comparison with the evil, sinister Hitler of twenty
years later, abdicated his throne and fled to Holland, and on Nov. 11,
the Armistice was signed. But before the armies had stopped moving,
another specter stalked the world: pestilence, in the form of
influenza, soon known as “flu.” No one who is not old enough to
remember that dreadful winter can imagine its horror, with schools,
churches and all other public places closed for weeks at a
time. Not uncommonly, half the
population of a community would be
stricken at one time. Deaths world -wide reached 20, 000, 000, and
there were more than half a million in this country. The disease
brooked no defiance: those who did not stay in bed were likely to die.
For this reason, farmers, who felt that they must take care of their
livestock, were among its most numerous victims.
Word came to
Lizzie and Joe that their son, Albert, was dying.
Lizzie expected Joe to hitch his horse and go, but the first thing she
knew be had his hat and coat on. She said, “What are you going to do,
Josie?” He said, “Why, I'm going to that boy,” and he crawled into the
automobile and went. She begged people not to tease him about his first
auto ride, because it had come under such tragic circumstances.
Joe had been
staunch as an oak when he reached his 82nd birthday,
but Albert's death broke his heart and he only survived until the next
summer. He had left the Catholic church as soon as he came of age, and
hated it, but on the morning he died he murmured, “Holy Mary, Mother of
God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”
Years later Lizzie
reminisced fondly of him and said, “Let him be
fierce or let him be as he might, if I could have him back, I would!”
OUR
100th YEAR
October 6, 1939 - Oct 6, 1939
by Carmon Caplinger
( On October 6th 1939, the children of James M. Caplinger observed the
100th anniversary of the
birth of their father who was the founder of the Caplinger Family in
Boone County, Indiana)
Below
The Mason-Dixon Line
South of Madison, Indiana, and not
far below the Mason and Dixon’s line in the Blue Grass State of
Kentucky, on October the 6th of 1839, James Madison Caplinger was born,
The habitation was close enough to the Ohio River that the whistles of
the steamboats could be heard in the distance on a still evening.
James M, Caplinger came from a family
of pioneers who had arrived in America before the War of 1812. Some of
the records of the family were destroyed during that war when the
British burned the capitol at Washington, D. C. Other records may now
be found in the State House and the State Library at Frankfort,
Kentucky.
It was a typical southern family. The
branches of the Caplinger family owned plantations and were a part of
that social system which flourished in the south before the Civil War.
The tax books of many Kentucky county seats enumerate the number of
slaves, designated the amount of wealth in those days. One of these
slaves held by the father of James M. Caplinger was a Baptist preacher.
When the family moved north in 1851, the slaves were not sold but were
given their freedom. This preacher was left to minister to his colored
flock.
At the age of twelve, James M. was
brought north with his family through Madison, Indiana, up to Johnson
County. There he went to school a little in a one -room school house
where he learned something about the elementary subjects such as
reading, writing, and a little ciphering, as arithmetic was called in
those days. The evening singing school and the spelling bee played a
prominent part in the social life of young people then.
The
Caplingers Move To Boone
The Billingslys were neighbors of the
Caplingers in Johnson County and it was there that James met and fell
in love with Louisa Jane Billingsly. He married her and shortly after
the Civil War they moved to what is now known as the Ben McClain farm
in Jefferson Township, Boone County. They resided there about a year
during which time a deal was made to buy a farm which became the
Caplinger homestead. This farm, located approximately a mile north of
Advance, Indiana, was purchased from Morgan Brineger. The first
payment, one thousand dollars in cash, was brought out from Lebanon one
night. Mr. Caplinger carried it on his person and walked the grade of
the Midland Railroad. The ties and rails had not been laid at that time.
During the first year a little log cabin was built on the farm - - one
mile north and a quarter west of Advance. By way of parenthesis it
should be said that there was but one store in Advance (Osceola) then.
It was a little shack almost completely hidden from the dirt or mud
road by a clump of bushes. Tom Melson was the proprietor.
The work of clearing the farm and draining it began at once. It was
largely covered with stick ponds, and the Johnson County relatives
delighted in calling the Caplingers web -footed. Fever and ague were
the natural consequences of excessive moisture, but Mr. Caplinger, like
others of his day, was an artist with an ax and spade; Gradually the
endurance of hardships gave way m a more pleasant life as the rich,
black soil began to produce abundantly.
The farm which he carved out of the forest and stick ponds produced
sufficiently to sustain a large family. There were Manda, Sam, and
Sant, Laura, Dud, Jim, and Carm.
All except the older ones were born on this Boone county farm.
And those days were not without their thrills and excitement. For
example, there was the old peddler, Calvin Henry, known to all children
as “Old Cal” who came twice a year to stay a week with the family. What
child’s heart would not leap with joy at the prospect of sitting around
the open fireplace to hear him tell his stories of ghosts and witches
arid Indian massacres? Far into the night these stories ran and sleep
never once touched the wide -eyed youngster who counted himself lucky
to sit up for these sessions. No, a double feature thriller of today
does not hold the power that “Old Cal” unleashed.
And, again, there was that dreadful day when Sam and Sant found the
dead body of Doc Montgomery in the straw stack across the road from the
house. He had been there a long time and his body had begun to
decompose. Too much laudanum had been used by him in an effort to sober
up after a drunken spree. Is it any wonder that the old house which
stood across the road by the straw shack was thought to have been
haunted?
As time went by, Mr. Caplinger became a leader in church and community
activities. He was an Elder in the Shiloh Christian Church, which stood
just across the road from the northeast corner of the farm. His home
was known as the ministers’ home because they so frequently came there
to stay over from the Saturday to the Sunday evening services.
He was also intensely interested in
politics, being a life¬long Democrat. Candidates for office
frequented his home, often staying to partake of the food so hospitably
offered and so superbly prepared for them. His political philosophy, he
lived as scrupulously as he pronounced. it from day so day. It was
this: “Honesty is the best policy.”
Therefore, the two subjects which seemed in dominate his waking hours
and before which all else faded into in -significances were the Bible
and Democracy. His family had them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
In going through some old papers the other day, the writer found a
telegram dated July 14, 1913. It reads, “Father died this morning.” It
is signed, D, G. Caplinger.
October 6th, 1939, marked the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of
the founder of the Caplinger family in Boone County. He was one of the
early settlers who helped to clear and drain the rich soil of the
county. He was puritanically uncompromising with all wrong and
injustice, tender hearted and sympathetic with those in trouble, and
intensely patriotic. He never was known to fight a public improvement
and he gave generously to the support of churches and other worthwhile
causes. To the poor, his orchard and fields yielded their fruits
without cost and they were given without grudge or mental reservation.
Physically he was a big man, six feet two tall and weighing well over
two hundred pounds. In his prime he was- strong and rugged, the picture
of physical strength.
He lies buried in the Old Union Cemetery, northeast of Advance, which
is the burying grounds of the Caplingers.
The story of the life and
times of James M. Caplinger was written by a son, Carmon 0. Caplinger,
who at one time was principal
of the school at Advance and later was super - intendent of the Boone
County schools. The time came when Carmon Caplinger left Boone County
arid went to Union City. Later he traveled to Ohio, where he was a
lawyer. He died in 1964.
The
Obituary of
Louisa Jane Caplinger
Louisa Jane Caplinger, daughter of
Samuel and Mariah Billingsly, was born in Johnson County, Indiana,
December 11th, 1845. She was the fifth child in the family of eleven
children.
She was married to James M. Caplinger in Johnson County on March 7,
1867. To this union, eight children were born: Mrs. Amanda A, Shelley,
Samuel H., Santford M., Mrs. Laura I. Hedge, Dudley G,, James S., and
Cannon 0. George W. died August 1875 at the age of eight months.
She was preceded in death by her husband, who died July 14, 1913.
She, with her husband and
three children, moved to Boone County in October of 1872 and resided
for a short time on the Ben McClain farm north of Advance. As soon as a
log house could be erected and fitted out for occupation, they moved to
the Caplinger home, one mile north and a quarter west of Advance, where
they cleared and drained the farm and made their home until after her
husband’s death. At the time they moved to the farm it was covered with
brush, trees and ponds and the struggle for supremacy over nature was
one which required great courage and hard labor. Their victory has
meant a great deal to those who now live.
In the fall of 1915 she moved to
Advance where she lived until her death, which occurred Friday
afternoon, May 15th, 1925, at 3:10 o’clock.
Soon after moving to Boone County she united with the Shiloh Christian
Church under the pastorate of the Rev. Ab Carney. The church then stood
a mile north of Advance. She was ever been faithful to her God and to
her fellowmen. Quiet and unassuming, she has gone about her work and
has always been untiring in her efforts to serve. Her home has always
been open to church people and the pastors made the Caplinger home
their headquarters while the Church stood at the Shiloh corner. All her
life she has enjoyed to go to the house of the Lord, and while she was
able seldom missed a service.
As a mother she was devoted to her family and was never happier than
when she had her children gathered around her. They will miss her
tender love and nothing in the whole wide world can take its place. No
more shall they hear her gentle voice giving its good council and
expressing a mother’s sympathy. No more shall they be blessed with that
sweet smile until they meet where parting shall be no more and they
have a hope because it is written that “Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord from henceforth, yea sayeth the spirit, that they may rest
from their labors and their works do follow them.”
Besides her children she is survived by one brother, Samuel Billingsly
of Greenwood, a sister, Sarah A. Lafary also of Greenwood; twenty-three
grandchildren; five great-grandchildren, and a great number of other
relatives and friends
The
Sons and Daughters of James M. and Louisa Jane Caplinger
by Loretta Frances Hunt
The fist child was Amanda Alice
Caplinger, born May 15, 1868. She was married to Jefferson M. Shelley,
September:7, 1890 To the
union four children were born. Ada Valeria, born May 21, 1895, and
Noble Shelley, born in September of 1903 One daughter, Ruthie, and one
son are deceased. Ada Valeria died September 9, 1969. Noble married
Gladys
Wright. Jefferson M. Shelley is
deceased.
The second child of James M. and Louisa Jane was Samuel Henry
Caplinger, born January 22, 1870. He was married to Cordelia May Wall
on October 11, 1893. To this union four children were born: Estella
Caplinger; Walter Caplinger, born September 26, 1896; Edgar Caplinger,
and Lester Caplinger. Estella married George Lyle Johnson. Walter
married Lora F. Abbott. He died October 21, 1959. Lora F. Caplinger
died July 7, 1973. Edgar Caplinger was born March 8, 1898, and was
married to Ruth Riner on September 20, 1926. Edgar died March 2, 1960.
Lester’s one daughter died in infancy.
The third son of James M. was Santford Marion Caplinger, born February 2, 1872. He was married to
Rella Florence Deatrick,
August 21, 1898. To this union six children were
born. Loretta Frances Caplinger, born
January 26, 1900. Webster
Buren Caplinger, born January 3, 1902. Mary Alena Caplinger born July 2, 1904. Florence
Jane Caplinger born October
11, 1906. Ivan Sanford Caplinger born September 15, 1908. Lillian Dale Caplinger born
September 3, 1911. Loretta
Frances married Earl James Hunt on January 22, 1919. Webster Buren married Freda Hill.
Florence married John Ostler.
Ivan Sanford married Edna Douglas, August 21, 1943. Lillian married Lloyd Cecil Scott,
divorced, then married Milford
Hayes. Donald Greene died September 27, 1965.John Ostler died December 27, 1966. Ivan
died June 30, 1975. Milford.
died June 20, 1975. Earl James Hunt died August 8, 1938.
The fourth child was Laura Isabelle Caplinger, born August 30, 1877. She was married to David
Donald Hedge on August 25,
l901 To this union were born four children: Opal Fay, Lola Pauline and
Donald Wall Hedge. One child,
Marshall, died in infancy. Opal married Basil Smith; one child, Morine, was born. Lola
married Ernest Wright. Donald
married Helen Krukewitt on December 24, 1936. To this union were born six
children: John Hedge, James,
Mrs. Carl Allen, Mrs. Bill Higginbotham, Mrs. David Richards, and Martha Hedge. Donald
died September 27, 1965.
The fifth child was James Sylvester Caplinger and he was married to
Beulah Dale on February 15, 1911. To this union were born four
children. Mrs. Lester (Helen) Utterback,
Members of the family of James M. and
Louisa Jane Caplinger met at the home of James Sylvester Caplinger,
southwest of Advance. The event was in honor of the 100th anniversary
of the birth of their father, who died in 1913. Mrs. Otis (Eleanor) Connor, and Kenneth
Caplinger. James died April 22, 1954.
The sixth child was Dudley Grafton Caplinger, born January 3, 1880. In
1909 he was married to Hazel Sullivan, who died in 1919. To this union
was born Mrs. Edward (Jean) Lucius, and Victor, who married Evelyn
Kernodle of Jamestown. In 1944
Dudley married Grace Caldwell, who died in 1950. Dudley died March 1,
1959.
The seventh child, Cannon Oscar Caplinger, was born February 9, 1892, He was married to Pearl Alfrey of Crawfordsville. Four children were born:
Thelma Caplinger, Haas,
Norman, Robert, and Carmon, Jr. Carmon Oscar died August 20, 1964. Pearl died January
11, 1972.
(Originally printed in the Boone County Magazine 'The Hoosier Hysteria'
March 1977 transcribed by me for Genealogy Trails)

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EVANS FAMILY
HISTORY
John B. Evans was born in
Pennysivania in 1806,
The family settled in Marion Township
of Boone County in 1832. In 1842, John B. Evans was married to Minerva
King, born 1814 in Estel County, Kentucky, the daughter of John King
and Jane Kimer, who also settled in Marion Township.
Four sons were born to the union:
James, 1845; John, 1847; Thomas, 1850; and Isaac, 1857. Isaac Evans
married Anna McGregor in 1882. She was the daughter of Donald McGregor,
born 1828 in Scotland, and Ellen Mooney, born in Dublin, Ireland. They
also settled in Marion Township. Children born to the union were
Milford M., 1883 -1967, married Alice Hoffman; Lowell, born 1898,
married Nellie E. George; and Zelda Evans, 1904 - 1952, married Giles
McKinney.
Children of Lowell and Nellie are
Betty, Anita, Marcia, Loretta and Thomas Evans. The family is the
fourth generation to live on the farm located in the north eastern part
of Marion Township, Section 28 -twp. 20, north, range 2 east.
A brief history of the Evans farm
follows:
“Deeded by the United States of
America to Thomas A. Armstrong entry 12-18-1846, the East half of the
South West Quarter of Section 28 - twp. 20, north, range 2 east,
containing 80 acres.
“Thomas Armstrong and wife Sarah
11-11-1841 to Eli Izzard and heirs $500. Thomas Izzard and wife
Elizabeth Izzard to John B. Evans 7 acres of the North East Corner of
the East half of the South West Corner 1873, $175.
“Thomas Izzard and wife Elizabeth to
John B. Evans the undivided 1/3 of South West Quarter of section
28-twp. 20 range 2 east Boone Co. Incl, Marion Twp.
“Elizabeth Ann Roberts to John B.
Evans all claims as lawful heir North half of the east half of the
south east quarter of section 28 -twp, 20-range 2 Boone Co. Ind. $25,
1875.
“John B. Evans and Minerva his wife
to Isaac S. Evans 10-27-1877 $500 Warnanty deed Oct. 27, 1877, recorded
11-22 -1877 the following tract of land. The North half of the east
half of sputh west Quarter of section 28- twp, 20- range 2 Boone County
Ind. Marion Twp.
"Joseph Leopard and wife to Isac S. Evans 1/8/1885 reorded the
south half od the south west quarter of section 28- Twp. 20-North Range
2 east containing 40 acres in boone county, Ind.
"At the death of Isaac S. Evans this eighty acres was willed to Lowell
and Nellie E. Evans and ask to care for Thomas Evans, a brother of Isac
S. Evans 3rd generation
JAMES ARGALUS AND JEMIMA JANE NEAL SMOCK
Mr. and Mrs. James
Argalus Smock, noted pioneer
family, lived and farmed in Boone County all their lives. Mr. Smock
also served as a commissioner of Boone County in 1916. They were
members of the Fayette Baptist Church.
Mr. and Mrs. S.
Argalus Smock were married February
11, 1385, by the Rev. William Hambrick. Mrs. Smock was the former
Jemima Jane Neal.
The couple first started farming on
the Todd farm, one mile south of
Road 334 on Road 52. In two years they moved to a home eight miles
south of Lebanon on Road 52 in Perry Township. A log cabin served as
home for a short time while the Smock’s built a new house.
The couple had six
children: Mrs. Tommy (Hazel)
Caldwell, Mrs. Elza (Rut) Harmon, Mrs. Fred (Vessie) Cooper, Edna
Smock, Lawrence Smock, and David
Smock. All are deceased.
Mr. Smock died September 2, 1929.
Mrs. Milna Smock then made her home
with her daughter, and family, Mr. and Mrs. Tommy Caldwell until her
death June 27, 1947.
Mr. and Mrs. Argalus Smock have
several living grandchildren. They
include Mrs. Alfred Belt, Mrs. Joe Wood, Harold Smock, all of Lebanon;
Earl Smock, of Zionsville; Marlin Smock, of Danville; Don Smock, of
Indianapolis; and Fred S. Cooper, of New Augusta. A niece of Mrs.
Smock, Mrs. Ruie Tanselle, resides in Lebanon.
In the 1920’s Mr. and Mrs. Smock were
featured in an article in the
Lebanon Reporter when they installed a Ben Hut Lighting and Cooking
Plant in their home. The Ben Hut was manufactured by the of
Crawfordsville. Johnson Acetylene Gas Co., Mr. Smock says, “We tried
them all both acetylene cellar plains and electric; at the poor
farm,
They not only would not do the business, but I was scared an the time
for fear that some one who didn't understand would get a hand torn off
while they were oiling and adjusting the machinery or would be
disfigured for life by the fumes of the acid that sputters and boils in
the batteries. The Ben Hur Plant goes out in the yard, like a cistern,
and there is noting that could harm anyone.’
A Bit of Lane Family
History
by
Mrs. Athel (Florence Lane) Witt
My father, Ora Franklin Lane, born
June 19, 1871, was a two-term Boone County assessor, and no doubt was
known by many in Boone County. His great-grandparents, Samuel and
Margaret (McCarty) Lane came to Boone County in 1830. Their oldest son,
Cornelius McCarty Lane, after his marriage on December 19, 1829, was
given the home place in Ohio, as was a customary practice in those
days, and the parents moved on into Indiana. Samuel Lane passed away on
October 18, 1842, and is buried in Mts. Run Cemetery. Some of the
family went to Kansas and sent back glowing reports of the good crops,
etc. In 1848, Margaret decided to go where her children were, and sent
for my great-grand -father to again come to take over. He couldn't get
away on such short notice, so she rented the farm out for one year.
They came back to Boone County in
January, 1850, but the people living in the house couldn’t move at that
time, so they found an empty house north of Whitestown where Rush
Livengood now lives. They rented it until March 1st, and then moved to
the house at the end of the Whitestown Road where the road jogs on
State Road 32 to go on north to Gadsden. They stayed there until the
first of April when the home place on Road 32 became vacant.
My grandfather, Samuel Lane, who was
nine years old at this time, remembered about all the moving, and I can
see him yet, telling about their experiences that spring. He wore chin
whiskers, and he would sort of chuckle to him -self and say, “We moved
so many times that spring that
our old hens would lay down and stick their feet up to be tied when
ever they saw us getting out the coops.”
The picture accompanying this article
is of my grand -parents, Samuel Harvey and Elizabeth Ann (Carr) Lane.
They were born in Ohio, he in Butler County, snd she in Clinton County.
The Madison Carr mentioned in the Gadsden story in the August, 1975,
issue of Boone Magazine, was her uncle, and Millard F. Carr was her
brother.
They bought this farm in 1884. The
house, without the shed added to the east end, was what they and their
two Sons lived in until his father came to visit in 1884 and stayed on
to help his sons do some building including a new kitchen for my
grandparents and a new house for his son, James, who had been living in
Tennessee.
I can well remember the beautiful
American Beauty rambler rose just starting beneath the window in the
picture, and the pretty tulips grown in the little square enclosure.
The boys picked a lovely bouquet and took them to grand-mother’s
funeral, along with many other flowers. She was a lover of flowers and
gave people flower starts of many different kinds.
There were many Samuel Lanes. There
was one who was just one day younger than grandpa. This Samuel Lane was
born in Hendricks County, Indiana, the first son of Christopher
Hardwick Lane.
Doctor Williar Wood
By Elsie Sanders
and Ina Wood
Dr. Willard L. Wood, of Stony Island,
Chicago, a former resident of Boone County, is still active at Rush
-Presbyterian-St. Luke Hospitals in Chicago at the age of 81
Born near Zionsville in 1895 and
attending a one -room school west of Zionsville, he began a teaching
career after a summer course at Indiana State University at a one-room
school, Buzzard’s Roost, northwest of Zionsvile. Continuing teaching
and going to school, the farm boy received an A. B. from Indiana State
in 1920 and a M. S. in chemistry in 1925 while at Garfield High School
in Terre Haute.
Transferring to the University of Chicago and Rush Medical he completed
his medical degree. Later appointments include Professor Emeritus of
Medicine (Rush) and consultant in Medicine at Presbyterian -St. Luke’s
Hospital where he has been an attending physician for 41 years. He also
has received the Doctor of Science degree from Indiana State University.
In recognition of the achievements of Dr. Wood in the field of
arthritis and internal medicine, an endowed professorship was
established in his name at Ruth Medical College. It is called the
Willard Wood Endowed Chair of Rheumatology.
The Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center,Chicago, says the funding has surpassed $1
million.Voluntary
contributions come from patients whom Dr.Wood has served for 41 years.
He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American
Rheumatism Association,
Central Society for Clinical Research, Chicago Society of Internal Medicine,
American Arthritis Foundation,
American Association for theAdvancement
of Science and other professional organizations.
A former Army officer, Dr. Wood did post graduate work in Paris and
Vienna, Austria, in 1932 and was certified as a Specialist in Internal
Medicine in 1938. Well known in medical circles as a writer and speaker, he addressed a foreign branch in Vienna
in 1960 of the International Congress of Chest Physicians.
He is a member of the Indiana Academy of Science and is listed in Who’s
Who in Midwest American Men of Science, Dictionary of International
Biographies from 1964 to 1968. Sons of Indiana carried a biography of
Dr. Wood in their 1967 edition.
Dr. Wood is married and the father of two daughters and has three
grandchildren. He was one of a family of eight of John D. and Hester E.
Wood, residing in Eagle and Union Townships, all of whom attended one
-room schools and all became teachers before branching into other
professions. All ar.e eligible to belong to the pioneer families of
Indiana, and one member does.
Elizaville Pioneers
Carved Heritage in
County by Mrs. Maurice Stephenson
Little is known of the early life of
Robert Stephenson, Jr. He was the son of Robert Stephenson, a
Revolutionary War soldier.
Robert Stephenson journeyed to Paris, Kentucky, in 1788, from
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. He then went to what is now
Carlisle, settling about four miles east. He died in 1795 and was
buried in Shioh Cemetery near his homestead. He was the father of three
children:
Robert Jr., Joseph, and Jane
Campbell.
Robert Stephenson, Jr., was married to Martha McAnulty in Nicholas County, Ky., on
April 6, 1802. Three children were born.
After the death of his wife, Stephenson served in the War of 1812. In 1813 he was married to
Sarah J. McDole.To this union
were born John A., married Mary Adams;William 1., married Mary (Polly) Wiley;
Aris J., married Margaret Jane
Wiley; Thomas M., married Jane Carroll,Frances B. Moore, and Sarah (Eaton)
Ransdell; George W.;Margaret
I., married Samuel H. Kirkpatrick; and JosephS., married Elizabeth Stephenson, daughter
of William andRuth Campbell
Stephenson.
In 1833, Robert Stephenson and his family left Kentucky and settled in
Clinton Township, Boone County, in October. It is believed the family
left Kentucky because of their disapproval of slavery.
Robert purchased land in Section 26, on Nov. 7, 1833; 160 acres in Section 25 on Nov. 7, 1833;
and another 160 acres in
Section 25, an October 25, 1835. The deeds
were signed by Martin Van Buren,
President of the United States.
The winter of 1837, the fifth son, George, age 14, was engaged in
felling a tree. Having nearly completed his task he started to run as
the tree began to topple, but he ran in the
wrong direction. The huge trunk fell
upon him and he was killed. This was the first death recorded in
Clinton Township. He was the first to be buried in Salem Mud Creek
Cemetery.
Robert and Sarah Stephenson were charter members of the Salem U. P.
Church. There were sixteen other
members, including a brother, Joseph, and his wife, Ann.
Thomas M., the fourth son, purchased 160 acres in Section 25 from his parents on April 2,
1840. This was signed and sealed in the presence of James H. Sample and
Robert Stephenson, J. P., a cousin of Robert Stephenson, Jr.
On February 15, 1844, Thomas M. was married to Jane Carroll, the
daughter of James and Lucy Gregory Carroll. They were married by the
Rev. John H. Bonner, first pastc of Salm U. P. Church.
To this union the following children
were born:
Joseph Edger, 1846-1870, married Mary
E. Pressley. H served in the Civil War, was a doctor and is buried in
Mud Creek Cemetery;
Charles Carroll, 1848 -1880?, served
in the Civil War, never married;
Miranda Ann, 1850 -1910, married John
E. Richey, son of James and lane Richey. Miranda and her husband were
proprietors of the Rose -House, located at 215 -216 West Main Street in
1887, and the Perkins House, located at 215 -217 South Lebanon St.,
from 1888 -1909;
William Jerome, 1851-1922, married
Laura J. Baird, Marion Township, Boone County. William taught school in
Marion Township before becoming a doctor. In 1886 he and his wife went
to Nebraska where he worked as a physician on the Winneabago Indian
Agency. He later practiced in Decatur, Nebraska. Laura died in Decatur
in 1888 and is
buried in Spencer Cemetery, Hamilton
County. William is buried in Nebraska;
Albert 13., 1853-1923, was married to
Sadie F. Moore, the daughter of Robert and Mary Ann Cornell Moore. A
teacher, Albert taught school several years then moved to Sheridan,
md., where he had a barber shop;
George W., 1857 -1921, traveled to
Nebraska with his brother, William. He was married to Anna W. Rahn, of
Nebraska. He worked as a Government meat inspector on the Winneabago
Indian Agency and later lived in Lincoln, Neb., and Sioux City, lowa;
Thomas M Stephenson
Oscar Thomas, 1859—1928, was married to
Rosa Alice Wiley, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (McAnulty). They
were the parents of Frank B. Stephenson, husband of the late Drubell
(Immel) Stephenson, of Lebanon;
Ella Belle, 1861-1938, was married to Charles Daily in Lebanon. He was
the son of John and Martha Daily, early settlers in Lebanon. The couple
later lived in Pender, Neb.;
U.S. Grant, 1863 -1887, never married;
Harry, 1868 -1872, he was two months old when hismother died.
In 1872 Thomas M. Stephenson was
married to Frances B. Moore,
of Marion Township, Boone County. She diedeight days after the birth of twin sons on
July 28, 1873.
The infant sons, Franklin and
Francis, died shortly after.
The third wife of Thomas Stephenson
was Sarah Eaton RansdelL A daughter was born to the union, she was
named Jennie. She was the first wife of Dora Neal and the mother of
Zelda Neal Costlow.
Thomas M. Stephenson died June 16,
1892. He is buried in Mud Creek Cemetery.
Thomas Stephenson has five
grandchildren living: Fairie
Stephenson Miller, of Noblesville; Zelda Neal Costlow, of Largo, Fla.; Ethel Stephenson
Norton and Ralph T.
Stephenson, both of Hemet, Cal.; and Maurice G. Stephenson, of Sioux City, Iowa.