HARRISON TOWNSHIP BIOGRAPHIES
TRANSCRIBED FROM THE BOOK COUNTIES OF MORGAN,
MONROE & BROWN,
INDIANA. HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL
REUBEN S. ALDRICH, stock dealer and
farmer, was born October 9, 1824, and is a son of Barlow and Phebe
Aldrich. Barlow Aldrich was born in Massachusetts in 1799, and
his wife in Ohio in 1800, where they married in 1821. They came
to Decatur County, Ind.; located on 160 acres, whence they moved
to this county, and purchased 117 acres. Reuben married
Miss Susan K., daughter of Joseph and Sarah Wharton, who died in
1872, having borne one child, an infant, deceased. October 7, 1873, he
married Mary E., daughter of Samuel and Nancy Province, and to them
were born three children - Minnie S., infant (deceased) and Gracie S.
Mr. Aldrich owns 688 acres of land in this township, all of which is
under cultivation, and contains good residence, buildings and other
adornments. Mr. Aldrich resides at this time on the homestead
farm, surrounded by the many necessities and comforts which make life
desirable. He has served this township as Justice of the Peace
and as Trustee. In politics he is Republican.
Mr. and Mrs. Aldrich are members of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, he having joined in 1874.
FRANCIS M. FIELDS is a son of Allen and
Elizabeth (Pitcher) Fields, the former a native of North Carolina, born
1789; the latter of Virginia, born 1792. They were married
in North Carolina, and parents of nine children, and in 1826 moved to
what is now Mooresville, this State, and one year later moved on to
eighty acres, on which he remained until death, having reared ten
children. Francis M. married Miriam Shafer, a union smiled upon by six
children Martin, Mary A., Minnie, George (deceased), Anna B. (deceased)
and Effie. Mrs. Fields died September 8, 1874, and on January 8,
1878, he married Mrs. Mary A. Loy. After marriage, Mr. Fields
purchased, in con-junction with his brother-in-law, 160 acres, which
they cultivated about seven years, when Mr. Fields purchased 130 acres
alone, and to this, in 1871, added fifty six acres. Some of this
he afterward sold, and engaged in mercantile business at Waverly.
His lands will average a value of $50 per acre. Mr. Fields is a
Democrat, and was elected Township Trustee in 1882. He is also a
member of the I. O. O. F., and of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
GEORGE
PAUL was born July 7, 1812, in
West Virginia. He married Miss Eliza A., daughter of Joseph and
Sarah (Tull) Wharton, in 1841, as a result of which union were born
eight children- Julia A. (deceased), John, Joseph, Farendine,
Catherine, Jacob, George D. and Frank. After his marriage, Mr.
Paul purchased a small corn mill on Crooked Creek, in partnership with
his brother-in-law, John Brenton, to whom he subsequently sold said
mill, and engaged in farming on 160 acres, giving some attention
to the raising of stock. This farm has grown by aggregation to be
812 acres, containing 500 head of stock, which feed on blue grass
pasture. Mr. Paul is a Republican.
He had two sons in the war of the
rebellion John, in the Thirty third Indiana, and Joseph in the One
Hundred and Forty eighth Indiana Regiments. Mr. Paul is a
practical farmer and successful business manager, a fact of which the
best evidence is given in his prosperity and success.
PHILIP PAUL was born at West Liberty, W.
Va., May 21, 1816, and is a son of John and Keziah (Mills)
Paul. John Paul moved his family to Cincinnati, and thence to
Brookville, Ind., in 1821, where he soon after purchased 160 acres. He
also purchased land on White River bluffs, whither he went alone, fell
a victim to fever, was brought home and died. After this event,
Mrs. Paul removed to the land on the bluffs. Philip Paul remained
with his mother until her death, after which his brother and he lived
on the homestead with one sister, both brothers being unmarried. The
family suffered many privations in
that new locality, which will ever be
remembered. Our subject united with the Methodist Episcopal Church at a
camp meeting in 1846, and has been a consistent adherent of that
faith. He is an honored citizen, a genial gentleman and a
Democrat politically.