FRANKLIN COUNTY INDIANA BIOGRAPHIES
GENERAL LEWIS WALLACE

    It is seldom accorded one man to attain eminence in such varying walks of life as has General Wallace. At the bar he has won distinction, and upon the battle-fields of the south he gained distinguished honors, while no name is more prominent as the representative of our American literature than that of the author of Ben Hur. Indiana, indeed, may well be proud to claim him as one of her gifted sons. He was born in Brookville, Franklin county, April 10, 1S27, a son" of David Wallace, who was a popular political speaker, a well-known congressman, and a laborious and impartial jurist. The son received a common school education, and at the beginning of the Mexican war was a law student in Indiana. At the call for volunteers he entered the army as a first lieutenant in Company H, First Indiana Infantry. In 1848 he resumed his profession, which he practiced in Covington and subsequently in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and served four years in the state senate.
    At the beginning of the civil war he was appointed adjutant general of Indiana, soon afterward becoming colonel of the Eleventh Indiana Volunteers, with which he served in West Virginia, participating in the capture of Romney and the ejection of the enemy from Harper's Ferry. He became brigadier general of volunteers, September 3, 1S61, led a division and the center of the Union lines at the capture of Fort Donelson, and displayed such ability that his commission of major general of volunteers followed on March 21, 1862. The day before the battle of Shiloh his division was placed on the north side of Snake creek, on a road leading from Savannah, or Crump's landing, to Purdy. He was ordered by General Grant, on the morning of April 6 (the first day of the battle), to cross the creek and come up to Gen. William T. Sherman's right, which covered the bridge over that stream, that general depending on him for support; but he lost his way and did not arrive until the night. He rendered efficient service in the second day's fight, and in the subsequent advance on Corinth. In November, 1862, he was president of the court of inquiry on  the military conduct of General Don Carlos Buell in the operations in Tennessee and Kentucky. In 1863 he prepared the defenses of Cincinnati, which he saved from capture by General Edmund Kirby Smith, and was subsequently assigned to the command of the middle department and the Eighth Army Corps, with headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. With five thousand and eight hundred men he intercepted the march of General Jubal A. Early with twenty eight thousand men, on Washington, D. C., and on July 9, 1864, fought the battle of Monocacy. Although he was defeated, he gained sufficient time to enable General Grant to send reinforcements to the capital from City Point. By order of General Henry W. Halleck he was removed from his command and superseded by General Edward O. C. Ord; but when General Grant learned the particulars of the action he immediately reinstated Wallace, and in his official report in 1865 says: " On July 6 the enemy (Early) occupied Hagerstown, moving a strong column toward Frederick City. General Wallace, with Rickett's division and his own command, the latter new and mostly undisciplined troops, pushed out from Baltimore with great promptness and met the enemy in force on the Monocacy, near the crossing of the railroad bridge. His force was not sufficient to insure success, but he fought the enemy nevertheless, and, although it resulted in a defeat to our arms, yet he detained the enemy and thereby served to enable Wright to reach Washington before him." Returning to his command, General Wallace was the second member of the court that tried the assassins of President Lincoln, and president of that which tried and convicted Captain Henry Wirz, commandant of Ander-sonville prison. He was mustered out of the volunteer service in   1865.
    Returning to Crawfordsville, he resumed the practice of law there and continued an active member of the bar until 1878, when he was appointed governor of New Mexico, serving until 1881. In that year he became United States minister to Turkey, serving until 1885, when he again resumed practice in Crawfordsville. His labors as a representative of the legal profession having been interwoven with that of the author and the lecturer, he has delivered many public addresses throughout the country and his writings have won for him world-wide fame. Among his most popular productions are the Fair God, a story of the conquest of Mexico; Ben Hur, a Tale of the Christ; Life of Benjamin Harrison; The Prince of India; and The Boyhood of Christ." Few novels that have ever been produced have attained the wonderful sale which was accorded Ben Hur. General Wallace's wife also possessed considerable literary ability. She bore the maiden name of Susan Arnold Elston, and was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, December 25, 1830. Her education was there acquired and in 1852 she became the wife of General Wallace. She has written many articles for newspapers and magazines; her short poem, The Patter of Little Feet, attained wide popularity. Among her other productions are The Storied Sea, Ginevra or The Old Oak Chest, The Land of the Pueblos, and The Repose in Egypt


GEORGE HOLLAND

    No compendium such as the province of this work defines in its essential limitations will serve to offer fit memorial to the life and accomplishments of the honored subject of this review, a man remarkable in the breadth of his wisdom, in his indomitable perseverance, his strong individuality, and yet one whose entire life had not one esoteric phase, being able to bear the closest scrutiny. True, his were " massive deeds and great" in one sense, and yet his entire accomplishment but represented the result of the fit utilization
 of the innate talent which was his, and the directing of his efforts along those lines where mature judgment and rare discrimination led the way. There was in George Holland a weight of character, a native sagacity, a far-seeing judgment and a fidelity of purpose that commanded the respect of all, but greater than these was his absolute honesty, and "an honest man is the noblest work of God."
    George Holland spent almost his entire life in eastern Indiana. He was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, September 28, 1811. There, nine years before, his parents, John and Ann (Henderson) Holland, had taken up their abode. They were poor Protestant peasants from the north of Ireland, and after their marriage and the birth of two of their children they crossed the Atlantic, in 1802. Not long after the birth of their son George they removed to Ohio, and made their home near Zanesville until 1817 when they became residents of Franklin county, Indiana. The father purchased a farm upon the west bank of Whitewater river, about five miles from Brookville, the county seat, making a partial payment upon the place, expecting soon, as the result of his labors, to have the money to discharge the remaining obligation. Death, however, set aside his plans, for in the autumn of 1818 both the father and mother were stricken with a malignant fever, and while their bodies were interred in a cemetery of their adopted land by the hands of strangers, their seven children, all yet in their minority, were ill at home, unable to attend the funeral. There were six sons and a daughter, and on this side of the Atlantic they had no relative. It was a sad fate, made still harder by cruel treatment which was meted out to them, and of which George Holland wrote in an autobiography found among his papers after his death: "We now first began to learn something of the great world around us. Its rush and roar we had before heard only in the distance; but those being gone who had kindly preserved us from exposure and had borne for us all the cares of life, we found ourselves, helpless and unprotected, afloat upon the current. We tasted, too, for the first time, the bitter falsehood of human nature. The man of whom my father had bought his land came forward in the exigency and charitably administered the estate. His benevolence was peculiar. It resulted in appropriating to himself the real and personal property, and turning us, the children, as paupers, over to the bleak hospitalities of the world."
    In Indiana, at that time, it was the custom, on the first Monday in April, to gather the poor of a county at the court-house and hire them out to such persons as would engage to maintain them at the lowest price. The winter being passed in the cabin of a neighbor, Mr. Holland and his four brothers were conveyed by the overseers of the poor to  Brookville, on the first Monday in April, 1819, to be thus placed in the care of the lowest bidder. Although but seven years of age, Mr. Holland deeply felt the humiliation of the position, but kind hearted people of Brookville interposed in behalf of himself and his brothers, and found permanent homes for them as apprentices until twenty one years of age. Thus it was that he became an inmate of the home and a member of the family of Robert John, a man who had no property but was possessed of a kind heart and proved a benefactor to the boy. In return, however, Mr. Holland was most faithful to Mr. John, and for many years was his active assistant in whatever work he engaged. When he was about thirteen Mr. John purchased an interest in a printing office, and Mr. Holland began work at the case and press, soon gaining a practical knowledge of the business and becoming a good workman. When Mr. John became sheriff he served as deputy, and on retiring from office he worked in a woolen factory which his employer rented, having charge of a set of wool carding machines for two seasons. In the summer of 1830 Mr. John was elected clerk of the circuit court, and took charge of the office in February, 1831, Mr. Holland again becoming his deputy. This was a year and a half before he attained his majority. His experience in the office had determined him to make the practice of law his life-work, and on coming of age he began reading without the aid of a teacher. The county clerk, John M. Johnson, witnessing his ambitious efforts, permitted him to use his law library, and at the same time he read all the miscellaneous volumes he could procure, thus daily broadening his general as well as professional knowledge. He was always a man of scholarly tastes, and throughout life found one of his chief sources of pleasure among his books. A short time before attaining his majority he successfully passed an examination, and was admitted to the bar. One who knew him well, in referring to his early life, said: "As a boy and youth he was gentle, kind and considerate, full of energy, and possessed of the most indomitable perseverance. His vigorous and unremitting efforts to educate and prepare himself for the profession of his choice in the midst of irksome and exacting duties, and his early struggles in the profession, in the face of poverty and ill health, indicate the heroic spirit and fixedness of purpose which even then distinguished him, and which he afterward so conspicuously displayed under such trying circumstances."
    Mr. Holland had not a dollar at the time of his admission to the bar. He, however, borrowed fifty dollars, purchased a small law library at auction and opened an office in Brookville. About this time he secured the office of county assessor and the outdoor exercise proved very beneficial to his undermined health, while the nature of his business made him acquainted with many people and thus paved the way for future law practice. He received -seventy five dollars for his official services, which enabled him to repay the
 borrowed money. He was not only well equipped for his professional career by a comprehensive knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence, but his experience in the clerk's office had given him a thorough and practical knowledge of forms and practice. One from whom we have before quoted, said of him: " His early success at the bar was marvelous, and may be attributed mainly to the thorough knowledge of his profession, which he acquired by the most indefatigable reading and study. He read everything he could get hold of in the way of general and professional literature. Few lawyers of the day, at the Indiana bar, were as thoroughly grounded in the principles of law and as familiar with the English and early American reports as he was. His range of professional reading was most extensive and included most of the rare works in black letter lore that could then be procured. At the same time, and in fact almost during his entire life, even when in later years he was almost overwhelmed with financial cares and responsibilities, his delight was in general literature, it was his rest and recreation, and in historical, political, scientific and religious learning his mind was a encyclopedia of facts. While he had none of the elements of a popular speaker, and, consequently, made no mark as an orator, he was a logical and persuasive reasoner before a jury, and had great force in presenting an argument to a court. The care with which he prepared his cases, the skill and shrewdness he displayed in their management, his unrivaled power in dealing with a complicated and tangled chain of issues and circumstances, together with his extensive professional knowledge, made him a most formidable opponent in the lower courts, and gave him an excellent reputation at the bar of the supreme court, where he was admitted to practice in May, 1835, when twenty four years of age."
    Prosperity attended his efforts for many years. The important litigated interests entrusted to his care brought him handsome financial returns, and much of his capital he judiciously invested in property and added not a little to his income through wise speculations. At length, however, disaster overtook him. Honorable himself, he was slow to distrust others, and when those in whose worthiness and friendship he relied implicitly wished him to go security for them he complied. It was in November, 1853, that some of his merchant friends failed, leaving him to pay their indebtedness of fifty thousand dollars. This seemed a great deal, but was as nothing compared to what awaited him. In November, 1854, he awoke to the realization that he was endorser for a broken and bankrupt merchant for one hundred thousand dollars in blank, all due within sixty days and for which he was unmistakably liable. Utterly discouraged and disheartened, in the midst of this gloom and desolation, yet encouraged by his sympathizing wife, he resolved that with the help and blessing of God he would pay the debt, and resolutely set to work to accomplish the task, with an abiding faith that he would live to accomplish it. And he did live to accomplish it after a struggle of twenty one years, paying the last of these debts just fourteen years before his sudden death, and never was a word of suspicion breathed against his fair name. Anxiety pressed heavily upon him and he suffered a purely nervous fever, from the effects of which he never recovered, but he  paid off dollar for dollar. The true character of the man now shone   forth; his ideas of commercial honor and integrity were of the   highest character and his determination to pay that awful debt, most of it fraudulently put upon him, was inflexibly fixed. The financial skill and business ability he displayed at this critical  period in his  affairs; the zeal  and ingenuity he exhibited  in getting extensions of the bank paper upon which he was liable, until he could have time to turn about and handle  his property;   his   unvarying success in disposing of the latter to the best advantage;   in making,   when   necessary, new and   advantageous loans, and generally,  in meeting his obligations, promptly as they became due, are simply marvelous. When one  considers that   all   this was done in connection with the exacting duties of a large law practice, which he never suffered to be neglected, it indicates more strongly than words can express the  strength and   fertility of his mind and his great business and professional capacities.
    In May, 1869, Judge N. H. Johnson died suddenly, leaving a vacancy on the bench of the criminal court of Wayne county, and to the position Mr. Holland was appointed. Previous to this time, his only child had married C. C. Binkley, a young lawyer, whom Judge Holland admitted into partnership in his business, this connection continuing until his elevation to the bench. In July, 1861, he had determined to remove to Richmond, and in May, 1862, had established his family in the new home. When elevated to the bench he was in very poor health, but after a few months spent at Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, he returned much improved, and with characteristic energy entered upon his judicial labors. He was re-elected to that office, and administered justice without fear or favor until the court was abolished by legislative act. His professional brethren spoke of him as one of the foremost lawyers of Indiana of his day and his record reflects honor upon the bench and bar of the state.
    When twenty three years of age Judge Holland was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth John, daughter of Robert John, in whose family he was reared, and he never lost an opportunity to acknowledge his indebtedness to his wife and her parents for all that they were to him. To her mother, Mrs. Asenath John, he attributed all the ambitious and honorable influences which permeated his youth, and to the assistance and encouragement of his wife he attributed the success which crowned his many years of  effort in paying off
 the debts of another. One daughter, Georgiana, was born of this marriage, and from the time of their removal to Richmond Mr. Holland and his wife and Mr. and Mrs. Binkley with their children lived in one family. Mrs. Holland survives and still resides with her daughter. In 1849, having no son of their own, they adopted Edwin Holland Terrel, then only nine months old. He was left motherless at that age, and his father, Rev. Williamson Terrel, was an itinerant Methodist minister. The boy proved entirely worthy the love and tender care bestowed upon him. For some years he was a prominent practitioner at the bar at Indianapolis. Having married at San Antonio, Texas, he removed there and entered the practice at that place. Soon afterward he drifted into railroad and other enterprises, resulting very successfully. In 1888, his merit and qualification being well known to Benjamin Harrison, president of the United States, he appointed him United States minister to Belgium, which place he filled with great renown and distinction to the close of that administration. He is still living in San Antonio, occupied with the care of his property and accumulations, enjoying the comforts of one of the most elegant homes of Texas and reveling in the delights of one of the finest private libraries in the state.
    In politics Judge Holland was a stalwart Republican, and in 1860 he was a delegate to the national convention in Chicago, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency. In the spring of 1842 he acknowledged his belief in the Christ and was ever afterward a follower in His footsteps, having an abiding faith in the Christian religion. He was always at his place in the church, and manifested his belief in that practical spirit of helpfulness of the One who came not to be ministered unto but to minister. Death came to him unexpectedly, November 30, 1875, but his upright life had fully prepared him to meet it, and he passed from earth as "one who wraps the draperies of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams."
    No death in Wayne County has ever been more deeply lamented than that of Judge Holland. He was a man who regarded home ties as most sacred and friendship as inviolable. Emerson says "The way to win a friend is to be one," and no man in the community had more friends than he. He was a man of very sympathetic and generous nature, a pleasant companion, and especially congenial to those who cultivated all that was highest and best in life. Resolutions of the highest respect were passed by the bar of the county and circuit and the bar of Brookville, his old home, and the sympathy of the entire community was with the family. Almost a quarter of a century has passed since Judge Holland was called to the home beyond, but he is well remembered by all who knew him, his memory is cherished in the hearts of his friends, and his influence still remains as a blessed benediction to those among whom he walked daily.
HON.  EDWIN POLLOK HAMMOND

Conspicuous among the representative members of the Indiana bar stands Hon. Edwin P. Hammond, who without question is one of the ablest exponents of the law in the state. The record of his career, as outlined below, must prove of interest to his innumerable friends and Well-wishers, as it bespeaks the character and labors of a singularly successful, upright, patriotic citizen, who is now a resident of Lafayette.
Born in Brookville, Franklin county, Indiana, November 26, 1835, Edwin P. Hammond is a son of Nathaniel and Hannah H. (Sering) Ham­mond, the former a native of Maine and of fine old New England stock. He was married to Miss Sering in Brookville, Indiana, and became a pioneer of Franklin county, this state. In 1849 he removed to Columbus, Indiana, and later in life became a citizen of Jasper county, where he died in 1874. He was a temperate, industrious man, and was blessed with a happy old age. He left four sons and five daughters. One of the sons, Abram A. Ham­mond, was at one time governor of Indiana, and another son, William P., once represented Morgan county in the Indiana legislature, and later became a prominent lawyer of Albia, Iowa.
In early life the subject of this sketch worked on the farm, his educational advantages being limited to the district schools, but by diligent application he obtained a wide fund of information. At the age of nineteen he became a clerk in the first wholesale dry goods house established in Indianapolis, and in 1855 he took up the study of law in the office of his half brother, Hon. Abram A. Hammond, and Hon. Thomas H. Nelson, of Terre Haute. In the winter of 1856—7 he was admitted to the senior law class of Asbury (now DePauw) University, at Greencastle, and was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1857. Immediately afterward he located in Rensselaer, Jasper county, and there began his professional career, which has been a very successful one.
When the civil war came on, Mr. Hammond was one of the first to respond to President Lincoln's call for troops in defense of the Union. Volunteering in April, 1861, for the three months service, in Company G, Ninth Indiana Infantry, he was elected second lieutenant and was afterward commissioned first lieutenant of the company, which participated in the West Virginia campaign, .under Colonel (afterward General) Robert H. Milroy. At the close of his service Mr. Hammond resumed his law practice in Rensselaer, and in October, 1861, was elected without opposition as representative in the legislature from the counties of Newton, Jasper and Pulaski. In August following he assisted in recruiting Company A, Eighty seventh Indiana Volunteers, and was chosen and commissioned its captain. March 22, 1863, he was promoted to the rank of major and on the 21st of the next November he was commissioned lieutenant colonel. With the exception of a short time in the winter of 1863-4, when he was at home on a recruiting service, he was continuously at the front, participating in many of the most brilliant and hard fought campaigns of the war. He took part in the battle of Chickamauga, September 19 and 20, 1863. When Colonel Newell Gleason, commander of his regiment, had been placed at the head of the brigade, Colonel Hammond assumed the vacated post of colonel of his regiment and continued in that capacity during the remainder of the war. This period included the hundred days of almost incessant fighting from Chattanooga to Atlanta, the march with Sherman to the sea and thence through the Carolinas to Washington. Colonel Hammond enjoyed the respect and good will of the officers and men under his command and the confidence of his brigade, corps and division officers, who at the close of the war recommended that he be brevetted colonel of United States Volunteers, and accordingly he was appointed by the president to this brevet rank of colonel, his commission stating it to be " for gallant and meritorious service."
Quietly taking up the professional duties which he had abandoned in the hour of his country's peril, Colonel Hammond ere long had an extensive and remunerative practice, as he richly deserved.    In March, 1873, Governor T. A. Hendricks appointed the Colonel to the position of judge of the thirtieth judicial circuit, and at the fall election of the same year he was elected to that office. Again, in 1878, he was elected without opposition for a term of six years. May 14, 1883, Judge Hammond was appointed by Governor A. G. Porter as judge of the supreme court of the state from the Fifth district. This appointment was made to fill a vacancy caused by the appointment of Hon. William A. Woods (then judge of the supreme court) to the judgeship of the district court of the United States for Indiana. In the fall of 1884 Judge Hammond was the nominee of the Republican party for judge of the supreme court from the fifth district, and with his party was defeated. Though he was not successful in the race, the fact that he received five thousand more votes than did the head of the ticket was ample evidence of the excellent record he had made and of his popularity with the people of the state. He retired from the supreme court bench January 1, 1885, after having gained for himself an enviable reputation for judicial impartiality, firmness and knowledge of the law. For the next five years he practiced uninterruptedly at Rensselaer, at the expiration of which period he was again elected judge of the circuit court and as such served until August, 1892. At that time he resigned and entered into partnership with Charles B. and Will­iam V. Stuart, under the firm name of Stuart Brothers & Hammond, now one of the strongest law firms of Lafayette, whither Judge Hammond removed in 1894. As a lawyer he has long sustained the reputation of being of the ablest in Indiana; as a judge his rulings and opinions have commanded the respect of the highest authorities. Gifted with a keen, analytical mind and rare powers of discrimination and judgment and intimate knowledge of the law, his services on the supreme-court bench, as well as on that of the circuit court, were such as to place him among the ablest jurists of the time. In appreciation and recognition of the high rank which he had achieved at the bar, Wabash College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1892.
Previous to the civil war Judge Hammond was affiliated with the Demo­cratic party, but since that time has been an ardent Republican. He was a delegate in the Republican national convention, at Philadelphia, in 1872, which nominated General Grant for his second term. Fraternally, he is a Mason, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Grand Army of the Republic.
In 1864 the Judge married Miss Mary V. Spitler and their children are as follows: Louie, wife of William B. Austin, of Rensselaer, Indiana; Angela, wife of Edward A. Horner, of Leadville, Colorado; Edwin P., Jr., a graduate of the Indiana State University, is now practicing law with his father; Jean and Nina V.
JAMES S. MAVITY, M. D.

The character and attainments of the professional men of a city usually determine, to the mind of the stranger, the character of the city itself. Measured by this standard, Fowler stands second to no city of equal size in Indiana. The subject of this sketch stands at the head of the medical profession not only in Fowler, but also throughout the county. This is the unanimous verdict of representative citizens of the community.

Dr. James S. Mavity is a practitioner of twenty seven years' experience, a quarter of a century in the town of Fowler. He is  "Hoosier" by birth, born in Ripley county, February 19, 1845. His parents, David J. and Lurana B. (Davis) Mavity, were natives of Virginia, where they were reared to years of maturity and were married. In 1836 they removed to Ripley county, Indiana, and hence were among the early settlers of that county. They were the parents of six children, named as follows : Thomas Benton, a contractor and builder at Tipton, Indiana ; William K.", who died in Denver, Colorado, at the age of forty seven years, was a physician and surgeon; Lavisa A., who became the wife of James W. Lee, and resides at Indianapolis; Mary Louisa died in childhood ; Sarah E. married Jonathan B. Ward and died in Kokomo, Indiana, at the age of forty seven ; and James S., the subject of this sketch.
The family trace their genealogy to Normandy, and were established in America by William Mavity, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who located in Greenbrier county, Virginia, in 1765 ; while the Davis family, as represented by the mother, is of English and German descent. David J. Mavity passed away in Ripley county, on the 7th of August, 1872, at the age of seventy four years. His life had been devoted to agricultural pursuits. His father, William Mavity, was a soldier from Virginia in the Revolutionary war. The following appeared in the Indianapolis Sentinel of November 28, 1895, and is: a matter of very great interest, not only as an heirloom, but also as an. unquestioned evidence that the Mavity family is descended from Revolutionary stock:

"In a lonely graveyard a few miles east of the town of New Marion, Ripley county, Indiana, is the grave of William Mavity, a sergeant major of the Second Battalion in the Fourth Regiment, commanded by Colonel Waller of the Virginia troops of the Revolutionary war. He lived in Virginia, and moved to Indiana in 1824, and died about 1832. As a sergeant major it was his duty to make daily reports, which he entered in a pocket diary, that has been preserved by his descendants and is now owned by John Mavity, of St. Helena, California. This diary is absolutely unique and very curious. It was made of coarse paper covered with leather tanned by the owner; and the leather is covered by cloth that was made from cotton raised, carded and spun on his own farm. The writing was done with a goose quill and sometimes a wooden pen. This little diary of twenty two pages is extremely valuable. It contains the names of officers and privates as entered on • the returns from twenty one captains of one hundred and eighty five rank and file.' The sergeant major drew a map of the siege of Yorktown in his diary, showing the positions of the New York troops, Lincoln's and Stev­en's regiments, also Colonel Dabney's and General Washington's headquarters, the British redout and the French troops. What scenes this old weath­er-beaten, even blood-stained little book, has passed through! The edges are ragged, torn and discolored, and on many pages the writing is illegible.

The following is the exact description of the siege of Yorktown and the surrender of Cornwallis given in this diary. This is the first time this account appears in print, and is as follows:
'"In Camp at Springfield, " 'Sept. 28, 1781. "' Our men marched down to York, and the Rifle men and French Infantry attacked the British outlines and took their works, which Deprived them, of Pasture and ocostined them to kill their Horses; and on the 29th our Riflemen Drove them into their main works, and General Washington with the Grand Army appeared before York and Pitched their camps in view of the Enemies' works about a mile Distant, and immediately Laid close siege to their whole Garison, both by sea and Land, and raised Bateries without firing a shot till the eight of Oct., when we had three Batteries opened and began to play furiously upon the Enemy and silenced their fire, which they kept continually Pouring upon our men, while they were firing their works; and one 14th, at night our men made an Attack on the Enemies' Redoubt, where they kept their Picket Guard and stormed them with a considerable loss and made a great Carnage with the Enemy and took fifty nine prisoners, wounded forty three, and took several stands of arms. We had one Colonel, two Captains and forty rank and file killed, and one major and twenty wounded; and the 15th at night, our men made a Trench in conjunction with the Re­doubt that they had taken from the Enemy within two hundred yards of the Enemies' lines, and raised three Bateries; and they began to mount their cannon; but the Enemy came upon our militia and Drove them out of the works, took possession of our Grand Batery and spiked six pieces of our cannon; but the front came up and Drove them off and killed several and took eight; and on the 16th we finished our works; and on the 17th our Grand Batery Began to play very Heavy, and the Enemy sent a flag for terms of Capitulation; and on the 18th the flag continues; and on the 19th they marched out with the honors of War.'"

The Sentinel also contains a cut of this famous little book, and a reproduction of the map referred to.

In his youth, Dr. Mavity received a liberal education at Moore's Hill College, in Dearborn county, Indiana, and began life's struggles on his own account as a teacher. For six years he was thus employed in Indiana and Illinois. His ambition, however, was to fit himself for the medical profession, and he began the study of medicine under the tutor ship of Drs. Smith and Wagner, of Newman, Illinois. In 1870-1 he attended the Indiana Medical College at Indianapolis, and during the last mentioned year opened an office and began practice, at Tipton, Indiana. In 1884 he took a course of lectures at Central University, Kentucky, in the medical department, and received his degree from that institution. In 1876 he came to Fowler and soon took rank with the first physicians in Benton county. Others have come, tarried for a time and retired to other fields; but Dr. Mavity remains a permanent fixture of the town, each year adding to his popularity as a wise counselor and skillful practitioner. He has filled various positions of a professional character, among which may be mentioned that of health officer of Benton county; but he has never entered politics as such. In his political principles he is a Republican. His father was a Democrat until the breaking out of the Civil war. The Doctor has held the position of school .trustee two terms, and the same period that of councilman or trustee of Fowler. In his religious views he is a Unitarian, while his wife and daughter are members of the Presbyterian church. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity.

He was married September 6, 1868, to Miss Mary A. Hart, a native of Franklin county, Indiana, and a daughter of Robert and Martha (Crary) Hart, the former a native of Franklin county, of Irish ancestry. The Doctor has had six children, of whom three are living. The eldest, Robert Ernest, died at the age of two years. The eldest daughter and fourth child, Agnes by name, is also deceased, passing to the other life at the age of four and a half years. William Asher, the fifth born, died at the age of eight months. The living children are David Everett, Joseph Haller and Helen Hart.

David Everett was educated at the high school of Fowler, of which he is a graduate, and he also attended the high school at Edinburg, Indiana. He began the study of medicine under his father's tuition, entered the Medical College of Indiana in 1889 and pursued a three years course, but was finally graduated at Gross Medical College, at Denver, Colorado, in 1892. The following year he spent in the Arapahoe County Hospital, at Denver, where he held the position of intern. Returning home in the autumn of 1893, he engaged in the practice of his profession in company with his father, which is the present relation. Joseph Haller was educated in the high school of Fowler, also at Bloomington, this state, and at Purdue University at the latter in the pharmaceutical department, and is now employed in the drug business in Fowler. The daughter, Helen Hart, is now a young lady of sixteen years, and a student at the Fowler high school.

The mother of our subject was born in 1810, and died July 15, 1898.

 A miscellaneous item of history in connection with the genealogy of Dr. Mavity will, in conclusion, be a matter of interest. The great-great-grand­father of Dr. Mavity was a soldier in the army of William, Prince of Orange, and when England was conquered he settled in Ireland, where the grandfather of Dr. Mavity was born, and where the great grandfather was about to be assassinated by reason of his political views and activity in public affairs, but was liberated by friends or rather saved and immediately came to America.
PETER D.  PELSOR

    Peter D. Pelsor, of Metamora, Franklin county, Indiana, is a well known citizen and was a faithful and gallant soldier in the civil war. He is a native of the Buckeye state. He was born in the village of Montgomery, Hamilton county, Ohio, June 6, 1821. His father, John Pelsor, was a native of Pennsylvania and went to Ohio with his father, Phillip Pelsor, when a young man. The early American ancestry of the family is not clearly defined, but the Pelsors had, doubtless, for several generations been residents of Pennsylvania. John Pelsor, the father of the subject of this sketch, grew to manhood in Ohio. He was one of a family of five members, comprising three sons and two daughters. He married Catherine Roof, who was born in Switzerland county, Indiana. The greater part of his life was passed in Hamilton county, Ohio, and Switzerland county, Indiana. Later in life he removed to Schuyler county, Illinois, where he died many years ago. His wife passed away about two years before the death of her husband. Peter D. Pelsor is one of a family of six, five brothers and a sister. The sister and the two eldest brothers, Absalom and John, are deceased. The surviving members of the family, besides the subject of this biography, are
    George and Isaiah. When Peter D. was a child about two years of age, his father removed to Cincinnati; when he was seventeen went to Switzerland county, Indiana, and about a year later came to Franklin county, and this has been his abiding place since, except during the years of his army service. Mr. Pelsor served three years as an apprentice to the carpenter's trade at Brookville, and followed that occupation until 1852.
    He has been twice married and is the father of a large family. November 10, 1843, he was married to Lucy Ann Morgan, who died September 16, 1849, leaving three children, all of whom are living, viz.: Rev. Henry C. Pelsor, a Methodist minister; Virginia, wife of Mr. Landingham, of the state of Kansas; and Lucy Ann, wife of Alonzo Mintz. In July, 1850, Mr. Pelsor was married to Jemima Alley, who died July 26, 1 889, leaving six children, namely: Indiana, Miriam, Ellen, Laura, Olive and Sergeant. The last named was born while his father was in the army and was given the name Sergeant by his father, that being the rank of the latter. When she married Mr. Pelsor his second wife had three small children by her first marriage, and Mr. Pelsor cared for and reared them as his own. They are John and Andrew Alley and a daughter, Velena, who is now the mother of seventeen children. Mr. Pelsor's marriage to his present wife, formerly Mrs. Elizabeth Burns, was consummated June 19, 1891. She has one child by her former marriage. The grandchildren of our subject, including the seventeen belonging to Velena, his stepdaughter, number ninety-two, and his great-grandchildren are also very numerous.
    The war record of Mr. Pelsor is a most honorable one and includes participation in many of the most important events of the war of the great Rebellion. August 16, 1861, he was mustered into the United States service as a member of Company F, Eighteenth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry. The company was commanded by Captain Peter C. Woods and the regiment by Colonel Thomas Patterson. The regiment was assigned to General Carr's division, Thirteenth Army Corps, and took part in the following long list of engagements and important events of the war: Blackwater, Missouri, December 18, 1861; Sugar-Creek, Arkansas, February 17, 1862;; Pea Ridge, March 6 to 8; Cotton Plant, July 13; Port Gibson, May 1, 1863;. Champion Hills, May 15; Jackson, Mississippi, May 16; Big Black River, May 17. He was in the famous charge on the Confederate works at Vicks-burg, March 22, and was at the surrender of that famous stronghold on July 4. All of these last named events took place in rapid succession in the famous campaign of 1863. Later in the season he proceeded with his command to. Jackson, Mississippi, and Carrion Crow Bayou, where they arrived November 3, 1863. Thence they went to Texas, landing at Corpus Christi and proceeding to Mustang island, taking the fort  at  that place November 17: thence to Esperanze May 27, 1864. Returning to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Mr. Pelsor came home on veteran furlough. Returning to Washington he went thence to Bermuda Hundred, on the James river, but soon afterward was ordered back to Washington, and there the regiment was detached from the Thirteenth Army Corps and became a part of the Nineteenth Corps, and with it fought through Sheridan's famous campaign in the Shenandoah valley, taking part in the battles of Opequan Creek, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Newmarket and Cedar Creek. Mr. Pelsor was made duty sergeant at the organization of his regiment; orderly sergeant October 26, 1862; second lieutenant June 15, 1863; first lieutenant June 21, and was promoted to a captaincy August 4, 1864. He was mustered out of the service at Camp Russell, near Winchester, December 14, 1S64, under special order No. 74, just as he was about to resign, having become unfitted for duty because of a tumor, with which he had been a long time troubled and from which he has never recovered. Mr. Pelsor's long experience in the service of his country was fraught with many dangers and narrow escapes, )?et he remarked to the writer of this article that of all the experiences of his life he would most gladly recall and live over again the days he spent in the services of his country.
    Mr. Pelsor has been a Republican since the organization of that party, and is a worthy member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is the present assessor of Metamora township, a position which he has held several terms. He is well informed on the general issues of the day and is held in high esteem by his fellow citizens.
CHARLES B. MARTIN

Charles B. Martin, one of the representative citizen of Brookville township, Franklin county, Indiana, was born on the old Martin homestead   May 28, 1841, and is a son  of Stephen and  Sarah (Wilson) Martin.  His father came to this county from South Carolina in 1811 and entered one hundred and sixty acres of land where Brookville now stands.  He was born March 7,1785, and was blessed with a strong constitution which enabled him to endure the privations and hardships incident to pioneer life. By perseverance and industry he was able to  accumulate  a considerable property  which  placed him and his family in comfortable circumstances.  He erected a cabin of poles, in which he  lived  many years and dispensed a generous hospitality to those around him.  He was a  Universalist  in belief and demonstrated the beauty of his faith in his practical  every-day life, delighting to give help to his brother man. He was twice married, his first wife, Anise Corners, being the mother of the following children, all of whom are dead:  Elizabeth (Mrs. William Stoops),   Edy  (Mrs. John   Stoops), Amos D., William, Daniel C, Stephen and Eliza Jane.  His second wife, Sarah Wilson, was born in June, 1802, and died February 11, 1888. Her children were John S., born November 24,  1835, and represented  on  another  page in  this  work; Patty Annie, deceased, born June 10, 1838; and  Charles B., our subject.  The father of Sarah Wilson Martin came to this county, also from South Carolina, the same year  as did   Mr. Martin, and settled  near the  Martin homestead. Of his three children, John and Charles are prosperous farmers, the third child being Patty Annie.  The father of our subject died on his farm May 5, 1846. Charles B. Martin was educated in the common schools and remained at home until i860. He then moved upon the farm of one hundred and sixty acres which had been purchased by his mother and uncle, Charles Wilson, and was known as the Simpson Jones farm; and to the original tract he has since added one hundred and thirty acres. In 1881 he built a pleasant new residence, replacing the old log house, which had been on the land for sixty years, with a modern brick building. This land 15 kept in the most perfect order, everything about the premises being neat and well kept. November 29, 1860, he was married to Miss Ellen Foster, daughter of William H. and Martha (Burns) Foster.  Mr. Foster was a native of Pennsylvania, a farmer by occupation and a local  minister in the Methodist church. He died when Mrs. Martin was one year old and to the mother fell the care and management of the farm and the care of seven children. The children are Jonathan H.; William Henderson, deceased; Mary; Emeline, wife of Joseph Alley; Ellis W.; Samuel B.; and Ellen, wife of our subject. Mrs. Martin was a judicious manager and by her industry and economy managed to clear the farm of debt and rear her children to lives of honor and usefulness. She lived to be eighty-eight years of age and died with the consciousness of a well-spent life.
The children who have blessed the union of our subject and wife are, John E., who married Laura Thomas; she died June 18, 1897, and in March, 1899, he married Jennie Jacobs, of Whitewater township; the children by his first marriage were Bertha A., Anna, John T., and Charles, deceased; Sarah E., the second child of Mr. Martin, is the wife of Edmund Higgs; Mattie O., deceased; William H., who married Estella Higgs; George A., who married Daisy Holmes, and has two children, Edith and Ethel; Lizzie M.; and Nellie M., Mr. Martin joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at the age of twenty-one, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, being a liberal contributor to the funds for the erection of the West Fork church. He is a man of high principles and is esteemed for the upright honorable conduct of his every-day life.


ANDREW JACKSON SMITH,   M.   D.

In many respects the history of the life of the subject of this article is remarkable and extremely interesting. It will be plainly apparent to the reader that he is a man of strong personality, having the courage of his convictions and daring to do what ha believes to be right, under all circumstances.

He is of German parentage, his ancestors spelling the family name Schmidt. He was born near Cape Hatteras, on board the good ship Kaiser Wilhelm, December 31, 1836, while his parents were on their way to the United States from the Fatherland. They settled upon a large plantation in McLean county, Kentucky, and the father, who was a physician, and possessed great ability, became one of the prominent citizens of that community. He owned numbers of slaves, and about the time of the trouble which was brewing between the north and the south over this disputed question, he sympathized with the south, and served his country as a member of congress, from the sixth congressional district of Kentucky. He died in 1876, when in his eighty-seventh year, his death being the result of an accident which he had sustained. His wife, who died in 1894, lived to the advanced age of ninety-eight years.

Strange as it appears, Dr. Andrew J. Smith was totally opposed to the principles of slavery from his boyhood, though the sentiments of his family were at variance with his own. In his young days he assisted many a poor slave to make his escape by means of the "underground railway," and finally his life was threatened so seriously that he concluded that "discretion is the better part of valor," and he left home. Going to New Orleans, he entered the United States Navy as a sailor, and served for three years, a most eventful period in his life, as he visited many of the important ports of the world. He was in Japan at the time that Commodore Perry made the famous treaty of 1853, prior to which year that nation had for centuries been closed to all commercial relations with other countries. Upon his return to Kentucky, his increasing sympathy for the slaves was too plainly evinced for his personal safety, and during the opening days of the war of the Rebellion, when sectional excitement was at its height, he tore down a Confederate flag which had been raised in his neighborhood. For this exploit he was pursued and captured and probably would have been shot had he not man¬aged to escape in disguise. Reaching Louisville, he crossed the Ohio river and enlisted as a private in Company F, Fifth Regiment of Kentucky Volunteers, being accredited to Butler county, Kentucky. This body of troops was better known as the Louisville Legion. Company F was commanded by Captain J. E. VanSant, and the regiment had Colonel L. H. Rosseau at its head. Assigned to Rosseau's brigade, McCook's division of the Twentieth Army Corps, it served in the Army of the Cumberland, doing valiant service in many of the important battles and. campaigns of the war.

Among the numerous battles in which Dr. Smith participated were the following named: Bowling Green, February 15, 1862; Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862; and Stone River, December 31, 1862; Tullahoma, July 1, 1863; Chickamauga, September 19-20; Brown's Ferry, October 27; Chattanooga, November 25; Mission Ridge and Blaine's Cross Roads, December 16, 1863;. Buzzards' Roost, February 25-27, 1864; Peach Tree Creek; Jonesboro; Rocky Face Ridge, May 5-9, 1S64; Resaca, May 13-17, 1864; and then, in quick succession came Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, fine Mountain, Pine-Knob, Golgotha, Lattimer's Mills, Noonday Creek, Prairie Springs and many others. In fact the fighting was almost continuous during many months of 1864, and in September of that year, by reason of the expiration of his three-years term of service, Dr. Smith was honorably discharged, at Louis¬ville, Kentucky. In January, 1865, however, he re-enlisted, becoming a member of Company A, Fourth Regiment of United States Veteran Infantry, under the command of Captain Montgomery and Colonel Wood. He was soon promoted to a captaincy and served with his regiment, under General Phil Sheridan, in the famous Shenandoah campaign. Subsequently he was sent with the regiment to Washington, and after the assassination of Lincoln they were assigned to guard the prison in which, Payne, Spangler, Dr. Mudd and Mrs. Surratt, fellow conspirators of Booth, were confined. Later they were detailed to accompany Dr. Mudd and Spangler to Tortugas island, where they were sentenced to imprisonment, and returning to Washington, the regiment witnessed the execution of the other assassins.

In 1861 Dr. Smith graduated in the Kentucky School of Medicine, and at the battle of Shiloh he was detailed as assistant surgeon in the field hospital, in the fall of 1865 he was examined and appointed assistant surgeon: in the United States Army, being assigned to duty with the Fifth Regiment of United States Cavalry, a position he filled, with great credit, for five years. During the war he was wounded several times, once at Stone River, the last day of 1862, and at Mission Ridge, Liberty Gap and Kenesaw Mountain. He still carries some Confederate lead in his body, and has never fully recovered from his honorable wounds.

In 1870 Dr. Smith established an office for practice in Tell City, Indiana, where he remained for twelve years, in the meantime taking a course in the Eclectic Medical Institute, at Cincinnati, where he graduated in 1872. In 1882 he removed to Indianapolis, a wider field of action, and there was successfully engaged in practice for nine years, during which period he pursued a course of study and was graduated in the Central College of Physicians & Surgeons, at Indianapolis, in 1886. Since 1891 he has been a resident of Metamora, where he enjoys a fine practice, and has won a well merited place-among the leading members of his profession in this section of the state. He is considered an authority on medical jurisprudence, and in September, 1897, prepared and read before the Franklin County Medical Society an original article on " expert testimony, " which has commanded wide attention and favorable comment.
On the 30th of September, 1889, Dr. Smith married Miss Lulu Huddleston, whose father, Samuel Huddleston, was a member of the Fourth Indiana Regiment during the war of the Rebellion, and now is a citizen of Dublin, Indiana. The Doctor and wife have two promising sons: Adkison John and Noble Gordon. Some time ago Mrs. Smith took a regular course of medical study and training, and since then has been associated with her husband in practice, rendering him invaluable assistance. They have legions of friends in various parts of this and other states.
JOHN H. McCLURE

This prosperous, respected farmer of Brookville township, Franklin county. Indiana, was born in this township September 16, 1849. His father, William McClure, Sr., was born in Rock Springs, Harrison county. Kentucky, May 1, 1802, and while yet in infancy was taken to Ohio, where they Jived for several years, and in   1807  located  in  Franklin  county, near this
city. His education was that of the other youth of his day, confined to a few short months in winter at a school that had none of the conveniences of the present day, headed by a teacher with meager learning. The school buildings were of logs, the furniture nothing but slab seats, with puncheon floors to give protection from the ground. Although his opportunities were so limited, he improved every chance for storing his mind with learning, and the knowledge acquired by him compares favorably with the college-bred man of to-day. It was a great pleasure to him to recall the many interesting incidents of his pioneer life, and numerous articles contributed by him to magazines have afforded keen pleasure to the readers. He was a firm supporter of the government during the trouble in our borders, and incited others to deeds of loyalty.
December 7, 1826, he was married to Miss Minerva Flint, and of the six children resulting from this union but two are now living, James, a resident of Kansas, and William, Jr., who lives in New Haven, this state. July 21, 1842, he was married to Rebecca Spradling, who survives him. Seven children were born of this union: Lucinda, deceased; Mrs. S. R. Ehvell;. Elizabeth (Mrs. Walton); Emiline (Mrs. White); John H., our subject; Indiana (Mrs. Shepard); Evangeline (Mrs. Short), and Richard E., a resident of Metamora. Mrs. Rebecca (Spradling) McClure was the third daughter and sixth child- born to John Spradling, a pioneer who is well remembered in Highland township. The death of Mr. McClure occurred at his residence on June 24, 1882, at the age of eighty years, two months and twenty-three days. He had been a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church for thirty years, in which he made his pure, simple religion a part of his-every-day life. He was not without an ambition to accumulate an abundance of this world's goods, but he was thoroughly honest, and his gain came from his own energy and never by another's loss. He was liberal in his charities. He knew that the end was near and had made his preparations to meet his Maker with a cheerfulness born of his faith in immortality, and the loving care of an all-wise Father who watches over ail his children. He had rounded out a full life and was ready to lay down the burden, leaving with the family the assurance of a joyful reunion in the better land.
John H. McClure was brought up on his father's farm and attended the public schools in his youth. In older years he still clung to his early training and gave his attention to agriculture, taking charge of the homestead after the death of his father and making a home for his mother. In 1878 he was married to Belle Arnold, a daughter of George and Harriet Arnold, of Connersville. George Arnold was born in Kentucky, in 1830, and at an early age came with his parents to Hunt's Grove, Hamilton county, Ohio. He was engaged  in teaching school in  his younger days, and  during his vacations helped in clearing away the forest that covered their land. Later he engaged in farming, and is now a man who is well posted on all vital questions of the day, whether it has to do with farming or questions of national importance. He is a Democrat. His wife died in 1874, at the age of fifty-eight years. Their children are: Belle, wife of our subject; Jacob; Samuel; George; Adelia; Leonard; William, deceased; and Hester, deceased. Mr. McClure has four children: Lurton D., born February 17, 1881; Carrie B., March 3, 1883; Carl A., March 31, 1886; and Veletta, August 14, 1S90. He is a member of the Christian church, to which he is a liberal contributor, and also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
WILLIAM MOUNT BANES

It does not fall to the lot of many to have their names engraved upon the roll of honor of a nation, to have fame almost world-wide; but he who is associated with the founding and up building of a county, and thus with the general prosperity of a state, has truly performed a noble part, and his posterity can but look upon his record with just pride.
For more than three-score years the Banes family have been numbered with the inhabitants of Franklin county, and no more sterling citizens ever dwelt in this section of Indiana. For several generations the family lived in Pennsylvania, and in Buckingham township, Bucks county, that state, our subject's father, Jonathan Banes, was born, February 12, 1817. He was a son of Jonathan and Anna (Gillingham) Banes, the former born.about 1778, and the latter a daughter of John Gillingham, also of an old family in the Key¬stone state. The great-grandfather of our subject on the paternal side also bore the Christian name of Jonathan. He died in 1833, aged about ninety years. After the death of his wife, Ann, Jonathan Banes, the second of the name, came to Indiana, and passed his last years at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Emeline High, his death occurring in 1862 Mrs. High is still living, having survived her husband, John High, who died in 1893. Her only sister, Eliza Ann, was called to the better land in girlhood. Cyrus, the eldest brother, went to the west when a young man, became an Indian scout, and it is supposed that he was slain by the redskins. John, another brother, died when about twelve years of age.
Jonathan Banes, the third of the name, born in 1817, as stated above, left the parental home when he was sixteen years of age, and served as an apprentice to the carpenter's trade in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. For a period he worked in Philadelphia, and in 1837 he came to Brookville, as he had learned of the Whitewater canal, then in process of construction, and believed that he could find employment thereon. This proved to be the case, and he was the superintendent of the building of the wood-work of the dam at Brookville, several, locks, the Case dam, further down the river, and several canal bridges. In 1839 he took the contract for the construction of the lock and an aqueduct at Metamora, but work was suspended that fall, owing to a lack of funds. The following spring Mr. Banes received payment for his past labors and invested the amount in horses, which he drove to Pennsylvania and sold. That autumn he returned, and for four years he was engaged in merchandising at Brookville. but since the spring of 1S45 he has been a resident of Metamora. Having erected a cotton factor}- here, he operated it successfully for a number of years, in the meantime being also engaged in a mercantile business, with his brother Jenks and Calvin Jones. Of late years he has given his attention to agriculture, and to the investing in and sale of land, both in this county and in Illinois, where he entered considerable unimproved property. Long ago he won a place among the wealthy business men of the county, and he owes his means and high standing entirely to his own well directed industry.
A notable event in the life of Jonathan Banes was his marriage, September 5, 1841, to Maria Mount, a daughter of Judge David .Mount, of Metamora. He was born in 1778, in New Jersey, and came to Indiana in 1811. Here he won distinction as a statesman and associate judge, serving in the legislature for many years, acting as one of the honorable body of representative citizens who drew up the constitution of the state, and acting as associate judge of Franklin county. His wife, whose maiden name was Rhoda Hunt, was born in New Jersey, in 1785. She survived him about twenty years, her death occurring in February, 1870. and he having died May 18, 1850. Mrs. Banes, who was born June 24, 1820, is the only survivor of her family. Her sister Sarah, who became the wife of Colonel Daniel Hankins, of Connersville, died in 1839, and her brother James, who for many years was associated in business with Colonel Hankins. is deceased. Jonathan Mount, the next brother, removed to Carroll county, Indiana, where he passed the remainder of his life; and Peter, the youngest, died in Wabash county, where he had lived for some time. Rebecca Ann, born in 1815, never married; and her death took place in 1849. She and Mrs. Banes were the only members of that family born in Franklin county, the others having been born in New Jersey. The two children born to Jonathan Banes and wife were William Mount and Mary. The latter, born in 1846, became the wife of E. W. High, and died September 12,  1890.
William Mount Banes, born June 5, 1843, on the site of his present home, which was the homestead of his parents, has always been a resident of Metamora township. From his youth he has devoted his time to farming and stock-raising, and the finely improved and valuable homestead which he now occupies comprises over one thousand acres.    He has a beautiful home where his friends are  made royally welcome,   hospitality being one of the marked attributes of his nature.
The marriage of Mr. Banes and Nancy, daughter of Thomas Tague, an early settler of this township, was solemnized April 6, 1871. Both of her parents died in 1871, and her death occurred ten years later, when she was in her thirty-sixth year. The three children of that marriage are Cora, Linnie and Leroy. Both daughters graduated from Oxford Female College, and the son is studying civil engineering at Purdue University, and is a young man of great promise. On the 29th of September, 1887, Mr. Banes married Miss Annie Olivia Clouds, daughter of the Rev. George C. and Mary A. Clouds. The former is a well known minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, now located at Greensburg, Indiana. He is a native of Philadelphia, while his wife was born in Cincinnati. Mrs. Banes also is a Cincinnati lady, her birth having occurred September 29, 1863, and all but one of her seven brothers and sisters are still living. The only child of our subject and wife is Mary, who was born October 10, 1888. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal  church, and  fraternally  Mr. Banes  is a   Mason   of   the  Royal Arch degree.
MAHLON C.  GORDON

Mahlon C. Gordon, one of the honored residents of Metamora or vicinity for nearly three-quarters of a century, is the sole survivor of a family of children which formerly  comprised thirteen  members, and which is notable from the fact that it was one of the first  to make a permanent settlement in this section of Franklin county.
William Gordon, the paternal grandfather of our subject, emigrated from England to Virginia in colonial days. In that state he married Miss Duedworth, whose birth had occurred near Lancaster, England, September 14, 1731, and who came to America with her parents when she was young. They took up their abode upon a fine old plantation on the Potomac river, about thirty miles above Washington, the present capital of this nation. Of the six children born to William Gordon and wife, William, Jr., and Sarah, twins, were born after the death of the father. The mother subsequently sold her plantation and in 1796 removed with her family to Kentucky. Her last years were spent at the home of her son William, near Metamora, her death taking place September 12, 1822, when she was in her ninety-second year.
The birth of William Gordon, Jr., the father of the subject of this article, occurred in Virginia, August 11, 1779, and when he was about seventeen years of age he accompanied his mother to the Blue-grass state. In 1803 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Kelley, an Englishman, who had come to America as an officer in the army commanded by General Cornwallis. Six years after their marriage the young couple mentioned went to Ohio, where they lived but one year, then coming to Franklin county. Arriving here in the latter part of 1810 or the spring of 1811, Mr. Gordon was the first person to buy land on Duck creek after the land had been surveyed. He was prominently identified with the early settlement of this section and was the owner of large estates during his prime. He passed to his reward September 9, i860, at his home near Metamora; and his wife, Elizabeth, died August 28, 1865, aged seventy-six years and three months. Thirteen children blessed their union, namely: William, Orville, Selina, Julia Ann, Eliza, Emeline, Milton B., Melvin H., Isabella, Leonidas, Angeline, Mahlon C. and Chilton T.
As previously stated, Mahlon C. Gordon is the only one of this large household now living. He was born on his father's farm near Metamora, February 10, 1826, and in his early manhood he owned a flouring-mill and a woolen mill below the town, and operated them successfully until 1858, when the mills were destroyed by fire. Then he removed to the village and started in business again, owning a flouring-mill here for several years. Finally, disposing of this property, he turned his attention to farming, and now lives upon and cultivates the old homestead of his wife's father, John McWhorter. The marriage of Mr. Gordon and Rebecca McWhorter was solemnized January 1, 1850, and for almost half a century they have pursued the journey of life together, loved and respected by all who know them.
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