1883 Jasper County Biographies

James T. Abbett, County Recorder, is a native of Johnson County, Ind., was born August 30, 1850, and is a son of Abraham and Sarah A. Abbett, the former born in Kentucky September 4, 1824, the latter in the same State, February 11, 1825, both of whom yet live, and are parents of eleven children, of whom eight are living. Our subject was educated at Franklin Academy, Johnson County, until sixteen years old. April 25, 1880, he married Miss Orrie E., daughter of Samuel and Anna (Johnson) Thomas, the former a native of Carroll County, Ind., the latter of Virginia. Mrs. Abbett is also a native of Carroll County. This marriage gave issue to two children - Earl R. and Myra L. Mr. Abbett was elected to office of County Recorder in 1878, and in 1882 refused to accept a second nomination, intending to enter Garret Bibical Institute at Evanston, Ill., at the expiration of his term of office, for the purpose of taking a course in theology, preparatroy to entering the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has been identified with this church for a number of years, and has always been an energetic worker in all of her interests. March 25, 1883, he was licensed to preach and expound the word of God. Mr. Abbett is well known and respected in Jasper County, having an exemplary Christian life among its people for several years.

Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper & Newton Indiana - Historical and Biographical
F. A. Bettey & Co., Publishers. Chicago: 1883

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Dr. M. B. Alter, County Treasurer, is a native of Greenfield, Hancock Co., Ind., and was born in 1838. His father, Simon Alter, was born in Westmoreland County, Penn., in 1810, and when twenty-one years old moved to Hancock County., Ind., where, in 1836, he married Nancy Braddock, from Washington County, Penn., a descendant of the old Gen. Braddock stock. Simon Alter was a physician and a graduate of the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, having practiced his profession and also dealt in land in Pannsylvania. He came to this county in 1849, and practiced medicine until his death. He had been Treasurer of Jasper County, and was a man of great influence. He reared a family of six children- Moses B., John Q.A., Sarah E., David H., Nancy H. and Isaac B., all of whom are living. Dr. M. B. Alter, after preparatory schooling, took a course of medicine in the Rush Medical College, during 1858 and 1859, and begn practice at Rensselaer. September 16, 1861, he married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Jonathan Peacock, of this county. Four children cemented this union - Flora B., Olive H., Anna L. and Floy B. Dr. Alter is a Republican, and was elected County Treasurer in 1880 and 1882. He is also Deputy Grand Master of the Odd Fellows.

Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper & Newton Indiana - Historical and Biographical
F. A. Bettey & Co., Publishers. Chicago: 1883

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N. S. Bates was born in Butler County, Ohio, in the year 1843, and is a son of Ozro and Mary (Hartman) Bates; the former a native of Vermont, the latter of Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Laban Bates, was of English decent, a mechanic, who lived in Vermont, emigrated to Cincinnati about sixty-five years ago, and came down the Ohio River on a raft. His father, Ozro Bates, was reared on a farm. His parents died of cholera about 1818. He moved to this State in 1848, purchased land in Marion County, and settled there. He reared a family of seven children. Our subject was married to Mary H. Havens, daughter of Rev. George Havens, which union was blessed with the gift of three children - Glen, Lessie and Mary.

Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper & Newton Indiana - Historical and Biographical
F. A. Bettey & Co., Publishers. Chicago: 1883

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F. W. Bedford is a native of Columbus, Ohio, and was born June 8 1828. His father, Elias Bedford, was a Colonel in the was of 1812, was twice made a prisoner, and four times wounded, the last time at Lundy's Lane, by a bayonet stab, after which a silk handkerchief was thrust into said wound, and he continued to fight. After the war he lived at Genesee County, N. Y., and married Mary Maria Scott, niece of the late Gen. Scott. He was a prominent Mason, and belonged to the lodge said to have the dastard William Morgan; he once ran a flat-boat on the Ohio, and had an interest in the first steamboat that ruffled that river; he was one of the founders of Lafayette, Ind., where he died thirty years after, and from the remote effects of the wound at Lundy's Lane. F. W. Bedford was fourteen years old when his father died. September 15, 1857, at Lafayette, he married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of John and Sarah Phillips. Mr. Bedford has a steam power brick and tile manufactory, which turns out 250,000 brick and 200,000 tile annually; he also has a general store in Rensselaer. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, and is a Republican; he is strictly temperate, a very prominent man in the county, and foremost in every cause of advancement and general benefit. Mrs. Bedford is a native of Preble County, Ohio, a member of the Christian Church and a most estimable woman.

Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper & Newton Indiana - Historical and Biographical
F. A. Bettey & Co., Publishers. Chicago: 1883

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Rial Benjamin was born in Tompkins County, N. Y., in 1809. His father, Jared Benjamin, was of English decent, a native of Vermont, and emigrated to New York, where he married Miss Nancy Hemingway, of Scotch ancestry, said to date back to Sir Walter Scott. This marriage was productive of the following issue: William, Saloma, Rial and Charles. Mrs. Benjamin died in 1814. Jared Benjamin next married Polly Yeoman. They reared a large family, and removed to Ohio, where he and the Yoemans purchased a large tract of land. He was a soldier of the war of 1812, and died from causes contracted in that was. Rial Benjamin was reared in Ohio, and apprenticed to a blacksmith, who taught him his trade. He there married Sarah Ann, daughter of Dr. Joshua Clark; her mother was a daughter of Rev. John Diley, a Methodist minister. To this union were born twelve children - Mary Catharine, Ruth Ann, Joshua C., Eliza, Drusilla and Mary Jane (twins), Sarah Elizabeth, Charles R., Margaret Amelia, Clara, Rial P. and Caddie (deceased). Charles was a soldier in the late war, in the Forty-eighth Indiana Volunteers, and was wounded at Vicksburg. Our subject came to this county in 1841, and worked at his trade for twenty-five years, in addition to farming. Mr. Benjamin is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and takes active part in religious and educational matter.

Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper & Newton Indiana - Historical and Biographical
F. A. Bettey & Co., Publishers. Chicago: 1883

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Philip Blue, proprietor of the McKeever House, Rensselaer, Ind., was born in Koscuisko County, Ind., December 13, 1846, and is the son of David and Sarah (Bohrer) Blue, the former a native of Ohio, the latter of Virginia, and of English and German extraction. Mr. Blue enlisted July 20, 1863, in Company G, One Hundred and Eighteenth Regiment Indiana Volunteers, under Capt. H. A. White and Col. George W. Jackson. Was located in East Tennessee; kept on detached duty, and hence withheld from engagements. He was discharged March 1, 1864, and came to Jasper County in 1876. Philip Blue was married, July 13, 1867, to Belle Baylor, daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Stacker) Baylor, natives of Pennsylvania, and of German descent. Four children have crowned this union - Luella J., born November 29, 1868; Charles M., born May 17, 1870; Leroy, born May 21 1876; Pearlie, born January 11, 1880. Mrs. Belle Blue was born February 18, 1847. Mr. Blue is a member of the Masonic fraternity, an active Republican, a wide-awake and genial gentleman. He is man in the right place - proprietor of a first-class hotel in Rensselaer.

Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper & Newton Indiana - Historical and Biographical
F. A. Bettey & Co., Publishers. Chicago: 1883

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George H. Brown, ex-member of the Legislature, was born in Jackson County, Ohio, May, 1816. His father, Zephiniah Brown, was born in Vermont in 1789, and removed with his parents to Cayuga County, N. Y., where he was reared and educated, subsequently removing to Pickaway County, Ohio, where he married Miss Elizabeth Headley, a resident of that State. They had eleven children. He removed to Tippecnoe County, Ind., in 1827. His wife died in 1842. He married again, and bought a large tract of land, on which our subject was reared. Zephaniah died in the spring of 1875. George H. Brown came to Jasper County in 1840, and settled in Barkley Township, where he entered a quarter section in Section 34. This he improved and exchanged; he now owns 1,395 acres, which he has obtrained by unremitting toil and good management. He has also given his children as much land as he now owns. He was educated at the common schools, and in 1844 married Miss Nancy Welch, by which union they had one child, which died in infancy. Mrs. Brown died a few yers after, and he next married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of George W. Nichols, who came from Ohio to this county in 1842. By this marriage they have had the following children - Caroline, Evaline, Cecilia, George H., La Fayette (deceased), Rebecca, Margaret M., Elizabeth, Isabella and Rachel A. Mr. Brown is not a member of any party, but votes for the man. In 1878, he was elected to the Legislature on na independent ticker; his majority was about 500 in the county. He was opposed by Mr. M. F. Chilcote, a Republican. He is principally self-educated; has acquired considerable wealth, and is a member of the Christian Church.

Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper & Newton Indiana - Historical and Biographical
F. A. Bettey & Co., Publishers. Chicago: 1883